Autonomous surface cleaning robot for wet cleaning
AssigneeiRobot Corporation
InventorsStefanos Konandreas, Andrew Ziegler, Christopher John Morse
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a transport drive and control system arranged for autonomous movement of the robot over a floor for performing cleaning operations. The robot chassis carries a first cleaning zone comprising cleaning elements arranged to suction loose particulates up from the cleaning surface and a second cleaning zone comprising cleaning elements arraigned to apply a cleaning fluid onto the surface and to thereafter collect the cleaning fluid up from the surface after it has been used to clean the surface. The robot chassis carries a supply of cleaning fluid and a waste container for storing waste materials collected up from the cleaning surface.
Claims19
A surface cleaning apparatus comprising:
- a chassis defined by a fore-aft axis and a perpendicular transverse axis for carrying and transporting cleaning elements along a direction of the fore-aft axis over a work surface supporting the surface cleaning apparatus, the cleaning elements disposed to clean across a cleaning width generally orthogonal to the fore-aft axis;
- a scrubbing module carried by the chassis, the scrubbing module comprising a two-part housing having a lower housing element and a mating upper housing element, a smearing element and a rotatable scrubbing brush defining the cleaning width, with the smearing element and scrubbing brush supported by the two-part housing, and, wherein opening the two-part housing exposes one or more interior surfaces of the housing for cleaning;
- and
- a liquid applicator disposed on the chassis and comprising a pump arranged to dispense cleaning fluid from a fluid supply container;
- wherein the smearing element extends to reach the work surface across the cleaning width for smearing dispensed cleaning fluid along the work surface;
- wherein the scrubbing module is formed as a separate subsystem that is removable as a unit from the chassis;
- and
- wherein the rotatable scrubbing brush is removable mounted between the upper and lower housing elements in a longitudinal cavity, such that opening the two-part housing exposes the scrubbing brush for cleaning.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.