A floor buffer or rotary floor machine is an electrical floor scrubber that is used to clean and maintain non-carpeted floors, such as hardwood, marble, tile or linoleum. It is also known as a floor polisher or burnisher if it is a high speed floor buffer with a pad that rotates at over 1000 RPM.
Closely resembling a large upright, wide-based vacuum cleaner with handlebar controls and requiring two-handed steering, a floor buffer uses one or more variable-speed circular rotary brushes to dislodge dirt and dust from flat surfaces. They have a large, round scrubbing pad which is spun in one direction by a small motor, usually mounted directly over the center of the pad.
Larger powered floor buffers are used in schools, hospitals, offices and public buildings. These have wheels and are powered to allow the user to easily move and clean items stuck on floors. Scaled-down versions are available for home use and often sold as hard floor cleaners.