Generally, robots are developed as industrial robots and take charge of part of factory automation. With the recent broadening of fields using robots, domestic robots, which may be used in general homes, as well as aerospace robots and medical robots have been made.
A representative example of domestic robots may be a robot cleaner. The robot cleaner performs a cleaning function by suctioning dust (including impurities) from a floor while autonomously traveling in a certain area.
The robot cleaner generally includes a rechargeable battery and an obstacle detection sensor to enable the avoidance of obstacles during traveling, thereby performing autonomous traveling and cleaning.
The robot cleaner is configured to suction air containing dust, to catch the dust using a filter, and to discharge the air from which the dust has been removed. Accordingly, the filter is easily contaminated due to the dust accumulated thereon, and the contaminated filter undergoes deterioration in suction force, which results in deterioration in cleaning performance.
In addition, a battery having a greater capacity needs to be installed as the use time of the robot cleaner is increased. The battery may generate an increased amount of heat as the period of use thereof increases. To solve this problem, technologies for cooling the battery have been studied.
Various studies have been conducted in order to increase the efficiency of cleaning of the robot cleaner.
In addition, when attempting to increase suction force in order to enhance cleaning performance, the generation of noise is increased upon the suction and discharge of air. To solve this problem, a structure capable of reducing noise while maintaining an increase in suction force has actively been studied.