A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, 2 Modern configurations 2.1 Upright 2.2 Canister 2.3 Drum 2.4 Wet/dry 2.5 Pneumatic 2.6 Backpack 2.7 Hand-held 2.8 Robotic 2.9 Cyclonic 2.10 Central 2.10.1 Constellation 2.11 Other. 1 History 1.1 Manual predecessors 1.2 Vacuum cleaner 1.3 Domestic vacuum cleaner 1.4 Post- World War II 1.5 Recent developments