Laser scanner, articulated three-dimensional coordinate measuring machine, and distance measurement method

Abstract

To provide a laser scanner capable of improving an acquisition rate of data of an edge part of a step.SOLUTION: A laser scanner 4 includes a laser device 10 that irradiates a measurement object O with a laser beam B, a CCD sensor 14 that receives reflected light R of the laser beam B with which the measurement object O is irradiated, and a control circuit 16 that obtains a distance to a measurement point on the measurement object O irradiated with the laser beam B based on a position on the CCD sensor 14 of a peak waveform of a light intensity distribution of the reflected light R received by the CCD sensor 14. When the CCD sensor 14 detects a plurality of peak waveforms at the same time, the control circuit 16 selects one of the plurality of peak waveforms as a peak waveform for measurement based on at least one of a peak position and a waveform width of each peak waveform, and obtains a distance based on the peak position of the peak waveform for measurement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a laser scanner that measures the distance to an object to be measured and the shape of the object to be measured by utilizing triangulation using laser light, an articulated three-dimensional measuring machine equipped with the same, and a distance measurement method using laser light. [Background technology]

[0002] Laser scanners are known that irradiate a measurement object with a laser beam to measure the distance to the measurement object and the surface shape of the measurement object. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a three-dimensional shape measurement device that uses triangulation to measure the three-dimensional shape of the measurement object. This three-dimensional shape measurement device includes a position measurement head having a semiconductor laser that irradiates the measurement object with a laser beam and a line sensor that receives the reflected light from the measurement object, and a measurement position scanning device that holds the measurement object and moves the measurement point on the measurement object. The laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser is reflected by the measurement object, and a portion of the reflected light is received by the line sensor. As the distance from the position measurement head to the measurement object changes, the position where the reflected light is focused on the line sensor changes. Therefore, the distance to the measurement object can be calculated based on the position where the reflected light is received on the line sensor. The light intensity distribution of the reflected light detected by the line sensor forms a peak waveform with a certain width, so it is common to determine the distance by identifying the peak position of the peak waveform. In this three-dimensional shape measuring device, the laser measurement unit is fixed and the object is moved relative to it, scanning the laser beam over the object. This type of three-dimensional shape measuring device is suitable for measuring objects with relatively small, flat shapes.

[0003] Patent Document 2 discloses a portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine (AACMM) equipped with a laser scanner at the tip. This type of measuring machine is suitable for measuring relatively large, three-dimensional objects because it can irradiate laser beams from various directions by freely changing the position and orientation of the laser scanner. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-286845 [Patent Document 2] Special Publication No. 2015-522805 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When a laser beam is irradiated onto a step on a measurement target during measurement, part of the laser beam may be irradiated onto the upper part of the step and the rest onto the lower part of the step. When using triangulation to measure the distance to the target or the surface shape of the target, the optical sensor simultaneously receives the light reflected from the upper part of the step and the light reflected from the lower part of the step. This results in the optical sensor detecting two peak waveforms. Conventionally, when two or more peak waveforms are detected in this way, the measurement is deemed inaccurate and the measurement data at that measurement point is not used. However, if part of the measurement data is discarded in this way, it is not possible to obtain measurement data for the step, and the accurate shape of the step cannot be measured.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a laser scanner that can improve the data acquisition rate at stepped areas, an articulated three-dimensional measuring machine equipped with such a laser scanner, and a laser distance measurement method. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] That is, the present invention provides: a laser device that irradiates a measurement object with laser light; an optical sensor having at least one set of light receiving elements consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction, wherein the reflected light of the laser light reflected by the measurement object is received by the at least one set of light receiving elements; a calculation unit that calculates the distance to the measurement object irradiated with the laser light based on a peak position in the predetermined direction of a peak waveform that indicates a light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the optical sensor, wherein when the optical sensor simultaneously detects a plurality of peak waveforms at different positions in the predetermined direction, the calculation unit selects one of the plurality of peak waveforms as a measurement peak waveform based on at least one of the peak position and waveform width of each peak waveform, and calculates the distance based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform; A laser scanner is provided.

[0008] With this laser scanner, even if multiple peak waveforms are detected simultaneously for one measurement point due to laser light being irradiated onto a stepped portion, one of these peak waveforms is selected as the measurement peak waveform to determine the distance at that measurement point. This improves the data acquisition rate for stepped portions and enables more accurate shape measurement of the object being measured.

[0009] The calculation unit may also be configured to select the peak waveform that indicates the closest distance from the plurality of peak waveforms as the measurement peak waveform. In this case, the calculation unit may also be configured to exclude peak waveforms having a waveform width smaller than a predetermined value from the plurality of peak waveforms and select the measurement peak waveform from the remaining peak waveforms.

[0010] Alternatively, the calculation unit may select the peak waveform having the largest waveform width from among the plurality of peak waveforms as the measurement peak waveform.

[0011] Also, the laser light is a spot-shaped laser beam, and the optical sensor is a one-dimensional optical sensor having a set of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in the predetermined direction, a scanning member that scans the laser beam in a line on the measurement object; The calculation unit is configured to sequentially acquire the peak waveforms at a plurality of measurement points irradiated with the laser beam and determine the two-dimensional shape of the object to be measured, and if there are measurement points at which the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected, the calculation unit can determine the two-dimensional shape by excluding a predetermined number of mask points from the measurement points at which the peak waveform could be detected, and adjacent measurement points at which the peak waveform could not be substantially detected.

[0012] When measuring the edge of an object, if the laser beam deviates from the object, the peak waveform cannot be detected. However, at the measurement point immediately before that, only part of the laser beam may be incident on the object. Because the light intensity of the reflected light measured in this way is generally weak, the peak waveform may be buried in noise, making it difficult to accurately identify the peak position, resulting in low position measurement accuracy. In such cases, by excluding a certain number of measurement points from the 2D shape data, it is possible to eliminate the measurement data with low accuracy.

[0013] or The laser light is a line laser light that diffuses in a line shape toward the measurement object, the optical sensor is a two-dimensional optical sensor having a plurality of sets of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in the predetermined direction, in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction, and the reflected light of the line laser light irradiated on the measurement object at a plurality of different positions is received by a plurality of different sets of light-receiving elements, respectively; The calculation unit can be configured to calculate the distance to the object to be measured at each of the plurality of different positions based on the position in the specified direction of the peak waveform detected by each set of light receiving elements of the plurality of different sets of light receiving elements.

[0014] Furthermore, the calculation unit is configured to acquire peak waveforms detected by each of the multiple different sets of light-receiving elements and determine the two-dimensional shape of the object to be measured, and if there are measurement points where the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected, the two-dimensional shape can be determined by excluding a predetermined number of mask points from the measurement points where the peak waveform can be detected, and measurement points adjacent to the measurement points where the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected.

[0015] The present invention also provides Any of the laser scanners described above; an articulated arm; The present invention provides an articulated three-dimensional measuring machine, in which the laser device and the optical sensor of the laser scanner are attached to the tip of the articulated arm.

[0016] Furthermore, the present invention provides A distance measurement method using a laser, Irradiating a laser beam onto an object to be measured; receiving the reflected light of the laser light reflected by the measurement object with an optical sensor having at least one set of light receiving elements consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction; determining a distance to the object irradiated with the laser light based on a peak position in the predetermined direction of a peak waveform indicating a light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the optical sensor; Including, The present invention provides a distance measurement method in which, in the step of calculating the distance, if the optical sensor simultaneously detects multiple peak waveforms at different positions in the specified direction, one of the multiple peak waveforms is selected as a measurement peak waveform based on at least one of the peak position and waveform width of each peak waveform, and the distance is calculated based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform.

[0017] In this method, when selecting the measurement peak waveforms in the distance determination step, the user can arbitrarily select whether to base the selection on the peak position or waveform width of each peak waveform.

[0018] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a laser scanner, an articulated three-dimensional measuring machine, and a distance measuring method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is an external view of an articulated three-dimensional measuring machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the main configuration of a laser scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the light intensity distribution of reflected light received by a CCD sensor. [Figure 4] 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the laser scanner of FIG. 2 is scanning a laser beam in a line shape. [Figure 5] 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the irradiation position of the laser beam and the peak waveform showing the light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the CCD sensor when measuring a step portion of the measurement object. FIG. [Figure 6] 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the irradiation position of the laser beam when measuring the edge of the measurement object and the peak waveform showing the light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the CCD sensor. FIG. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart of a distance measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] An articulated coordinate measuring machine (arm-type CMM) 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an articulated arm 2 and a laser scanner 4 attached to a tip end 3 of the articulated arm 2, as shown in FIG.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 2, the laser scanner 4 includes a laser device 10 that emits laser light B, a mirror (scanning member) 12 that scans the laser light B, a CCD sensor (optical sensor) 14 that receives reflected light R of the laser light B, and a control circuit (arithmetic unit) 16 connected to the laser device 10 and the CCD sensor 14. The laser light B emitted from the laser device 10 is scattered by the measurement object O, and a portion of the scattered reflected light R is collected on the CCD sensor 14 via a collecting lens 18. As shown in the figure, as the distance from the laser device 10 to the measurement object O changes, the position at which the reflected light R is collected on the CCD sensor 14 changes. The control circuit 16 calculates the distance to the measurement object O based on the position of the reflected light R on the CCD sensor 14. That is, the laser scanner 4 measures the distance to the measurement object O based on triangulation.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 3, the laser light B in this embodiment is a spot-shaped laser beam B that propagates linearly without substantially diverging, and is scanned linearly on the measurement object O by the mirror 12. In this embodiment, the spot diameter of the laser beam B is approximately 0.18 mm, and the measurement interval can be arbitrarily changed within a range of approximately 0.03 mm to 0.125 mm when the distance between the laser scanner 4 and the measurement object O is the standard 175 mm. This measurement interval also changes depending on the distance between the laser scanner 4 and the measurement object O. The CCD sensor 14 is a one-dimensional optical sensor (i.e., a line sensor) having a set of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction (roughly the left-right direction as viewed in FIG. 2).

[0023] As shown in FIG. 4, the light intensity distribution of the reflected light R detected by the CCD sensor 14 has a peak waveform having a peak position and a waveform width. As described above, the peak position of the peak waveform in a predetermined direction on the CCD sensor 14 changes depending on the distance from the laser scanner 4 to the measurement object O. For example, when the distance to the measurement object O is distance D1 in FIG. 2, the detected peak waveform A1 is located at the position shown in FIG. 4(a), and its peak position is P1. Similarly, when the distance is D2, the peak waveform A2 is located at the position shown in FIG. 4(b), and its peak position is P2. When the distance is D3, the peak waveform A3 is located at the position shown in FIG. 4(c), and its peak position is P3. The control circuit 16 identifies the peak position from the peak waveform and calculates the distance based on the identified peak position. In this embodiment, in which the laser beam B scans in a line, peak waveforms at multiple measurement points on the measurement object O are sequentially acquired to calculate the distance at each measurement point. This allows the two-dimensional shape of the measurement object O along the line irradiated by the laser beam B to be determined. By scanning the articulated arm 2 and moving the laser scanner 4 while irradiating the laser beam B onto the object to be measured O from various positions and angles, the articulated three-dimensional measuring machine 1 is able to measure the three-dimensional shape of the object to be measured O.

[0024] As shown in Figures 5(a) and 5(d), when the entire laser beam B is irradiated onto a relatively flat portion, only one peak waveform A4, A9 of the reflected light R is detected by the CCD sensor 14. On the other hand, as shown in Figures 5(b) and 5(c), when the laser beam B is irradiated near a step S of the measurement object O, with part of the laser beam B irradiating the upper portion S1 of the step S and the remaining part irradiating the lower portion S2 of the step S, the reflected light R from two positions at different distances (the upper portion S1 and the lower portion S2) is collected on the CCD sensor 14, and the CCD sensor 14 simultaneously detects two peak waveforms. In the state shown in Figure 5(b), more of the laser beam B is irradiated onto the upper portion S1 of the step S, and the waveform width W5 of the peak waveform A5 representing the reflected light from the upper portion S1 is larger than the waveform width W6 of the peak waveform A6 representing the reflected light R from the lower portion S2. In the state shown in (c) of Figure 5, the laser beam B is irradiated more onto the lower portion S2 of the step portion S, and the waveform width W8 of the peak waveform A8 representing the reflected light from the lower portion S2 is larger than the waveform width W7 of the peak waveform A7 representing the reflected light R from the upper portion S1.

[0025] When the CCD sensor 14 simultaneously detects multiple peak waveforms, the control circuit 16 selects one of the multiple peak waveforms as a measurement peak waveform based on predetermined conditions and calculates the distance to the measurement point based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform. In one embodiment, the control circuit 16 selects the peak waveform indicating the closest position among the multiple peak waveforms as the measurement peak waveform. In the state shown in FIG. 5(b), peak waveform A5 indicates the closer position of peak waveform A5 than peak waveform A6, so peak waveform A5 is selected as the measurement peak waveform. In the state shown in FIG. 5(c), peak waveform A7 indicates the closer position of peak waveform A7 than peak waveform A8, so peak waveform A7 is selected as the measurement peak waveform. Therefore, at the measurement points shown in FIGS. 5(b) and 5(c), the distance to the upper portion S1 of the step is used as the measurement result. In this case, peak waveforms having a waveform width smaller than a predetermined value may be excluded from the multiple peak waveforms detected simultaneously, and the measurement peak waveform may be selected from the remaining peak waveforms. For example, if the waveform width W7 of peak waveform A7 is smaller than a predetermined value, peak waveform A7 is excluded from the options, and the remaining peak waveform A8 is selected as the peak waveform to be measured. In another embodiment, control circuit 16 selects the peak waveform with the largest waveform width from among the multiple peak waveforms as the peak waveform to be measured. In the state shown in FIG. 5(b), between peak waveforms A5 and A6, the waveform width W5 of peak waveform A5 is larger than the waveform width W6 of peak waveform A6, so peak waveform A5 is selected as the peak waveform to be measured. In the state shown in FIG. 5(c), between peak waveforms A7 and A8, the waveform width W8 of peak waveform A8 is larger than the waveform width W7 of peak waveform A7, so peak waveform A8 is selected as the peak waveform to be measured. Therefore, at the measurement point shown in FIG. 5(b), the distance to the upper portion S1 of the step is used as the measurement result, and at the measurement point shown in FIG. 6(c), the distance to the lower portion S2 of the step is used as the measurement result.In yet another embodiment, when multiple peak waveforms are detected simultaneously, the user can arbitrarily select whether to select a peak waveform to be measured based on the peak position or the waveform width.Which of the peak position or the waveform width is used as the basis can be set in advance before measurement, or can be set after viewing the data after measurement.

[0026] In this way, when the laser beam B is irradiated onto the step portion S and the CCD sensor 14 simultaneously detects multiple peak waveforms, the laser scanner 4 selects one of the peak waveforms as the peak waveform to be measured, thereby making it possible to obtain more data on the step portion S and measure the shape of the step more accurately.

[0027] As shown in Figure 6, when the laser beam B is scanned toward the edge E of the measurement object O, the portion of the laser beam B that hits the measurement object O gradually becomes smaller (Figures 6(b) and (c)), and once it passes the edge E, the laser beam B no longer hits the measurement object O (Figure 6(d)). When only a small portion of the laser beam B hits the measurement object O, the amount of reflected light R of the laser beam B decreases, and the amount of light received by the CCD sensor 14 also decreases. As a result, the peak waveform A when the entire laser beam B hits the measurement object O 10 Waveform width W 10 Compared to the peak waveform A when only a part of the laser beam B hits the measurement target O, 11 Waveform width W 11 becomes smaller, and when the area where laser beam B hits the measurement object O becomes even smaller, the peak waveform A 12 Waveform width W 12becomes even smaller. Because the actual measurement data from the CCD sensor 14 contains noise due to ambient light and the like, when the peak waveform generated by the reflected light R of the laser beam B becomes small, it becomes buried in the noise, making it difficult to accurately detect the peak position. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control circuit 16 calculates the two-dimensional shape by excluding a predetermined number of measurement points adjacent to measurement points where the peak waveform was not substantially detected from the measurement points where the peak waveform was detected. For example, if the predetermined number of mask points is set to 1, only the measurement point in Figure 6(c) adjacent to the measurement point in Figure 6(d) where the laser beam B passed the edge E and the peak waveform was not detected is excluded from the data. If the number of mask points is set to 2, the data from the two measurement points adjacent to the measurement point in Figure 6(d) where the peak waveform was not detected, i.e., the measurement point in Figure 6(c) and the measurement point in Figure 6(b), are excluded. The number of mask points may be preset or may be arbitrarily set by the user after viewing the measurement data. It is also possible to set the number of mask points to 0, so that no data is excluded.

[0028] In another embodiment of the present invention, the laser light emitted from the laser device may be a line laser light that diffuses in a line toward the object to be measured. In this case, the optical sensor may be a two-dimensional optical sensor having multiple sets of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction, with multiple sets of light-receiving elements arranged in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction. In one embodiment, the light-receiving elements of the two-dimensional optical sensor are arranged vertically and horizontally in a grid pattern. The line laser light is irradiated in a line on the object to be measured. On the two-dimensional optical sensor, the reflected light of the line laser light is received across multiple sets of light-receiving elements so as to extend in the perpendicular direction. The control circuit calculates the distance to the object at a measurement point on the object corresponding to each set of light-receiving elements arranged in a predetermined direction based on the peak position in the predetermined direction of the peak waveform on each set of light-receiving elements. In this case, if multiple peak waveforms are detected by the light-receiving elements of that set, a measurement peak waveform is appropriately selected from the selected set, as in the above embodiment, and the distance at that measurement point is calculated based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform. Note that the calculation for determining the distance does not necessarily need to be performed for all pairs of light receiving elements. For example, it may be performed for every other pair of light receiving elements, or multiple pairs of adjacent light receiving elements may be grouped together and the calculation may be performed for each group. The control circuit acquires the peak waveform detected by each pair of light receiving elements, calculates the distance to the measurement point at each position, and calculates the two-dimensional shape of the measurement object. If a peak waveform is not detected by any pair of light receiving elements, it is likely that the measurement object was not present at the measurement point corresponding to that pair, and therefore the reflected light was not received. In this case, as in the above embodiment, the two-dimensional shape is calculated by excluding a predetermined number of measurement points adjacent to the measurement points where a peak waveform was not detected from the measurement points where a peak waveform was detected, by a predetermined number of mask points.

[0029] The distance measurement method using a laser of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 7. First, a laser beam is irradiated onto the object to be measured (S10). This laser beam can be a spot-shaped laser beam, a line-shaped laser beam scanned by a spot-shaped laser beam, or a line-shaped laser beam diffused into a line. Next, the laser beam reflected by the object to be measured is received by a CCD sensor (optical sensor) (S12). This CCD sensor has at least one set of light-receiving elements consisting of multiple light-receiving elements arranged in a line in a predetermined direction. It can be a one-dimensional optical sensor having only one set of light-receiving elements, or a two-dimensional optical sensor having multiple sets of light-receiving elements. If the CCD sensor simultaneously detects multiple peak waveforms at different positions in the predetermined direction on the set of light-receiving elements (Yes in S14), one of the multiple peak waveforms is selected as the peak waveform to be measured based on at least one of the peak position and waveform width of each peak waveform (S16). In one embodiment, the peak waveform indicating the closest position among the multiple peak waveforms is selected as the peak waveform to be measured. In another embodiment, the peak waveform having the largest waveform width is selected as the measurement peak waveform from among the multiple peak waveforms. In yet another embodiment, peak waveforms having a waveform width smaller than a predetermined value are excluded from the multiple peak waveforms, and the measurement peak waveform is selected from the remaining peak waveforms. Furthermore, the user may be able to arbitrarily select whether to select the measurement peak waveform based on the peak position or the waveform width. The distance to the measurement object is determined based on the peak position of the selected measurement peak waveform (S18). If multiple peak waveforms are not detected at different positions in the predetermined direction (No in S14), the distance to the measurement object is determined based on the peak position of the detected peak waveform (S18). If the laser light is a linear laser beam scanned, steps S10 to S18 are repeated at predetermined measurement intervals. If the laser light is a line laser beam, steps S14 to S18 are performed simultaneously or sequentially for the peak waveforms detected by each set of light-receiving elements.

[0030] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. For example, other optical sensors, such as a CMOS sensor, may be used instead of a CCD sensor. Even when irradiating a laser beam, a two-dimensional optical sensor may be used instead of a one-dimensional optical sensor. A mirror that scans the laser beam in a line is not necessarily required. Furthermore, a mirror mechanism that scans in an area may be used instead of a line-scanning mirror. The function of excluding data from a certain measurement point by the number of mask points is not necessarily required. The laser scanner may be moved by a linear motion mechanism instead of an articulated arm, or the laser scanner may be fixed and the measurement object may be moved relative to it. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1 Articulated 3D measuring machine 2 Articulated Arm 3 Tip 4. Laser scanner 10 Laser Devices 12 Mirror (scanning element) 14 CCD sensor (optical sensor) 16 Control circuit (arithmetic unit) 18 Condenser lens A1~A 12 Peak waveform B Laser beam D1~D3 distance E edge M measurement point O Measurement object P1~P 12 Peak position R Reflected light S Step S1 upper part S2 lower part W4~W 12 Waveform width

Claims

1. a laser device that irradiates a measurement object with laser light; an optical sensor having at least one set of light receiving elements consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction, wherein the reflected light of the laser light reflected by the measurement object is received by the at least one set of light receiving elements; a calculation unit that calculates the distance to the measurement object irradiated with the laser light based on a peak position in the predetermined direction of a peak waveform that indicates a light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the optical sensor, wherein when the optical sensor simultaneously detects a plurality of peak waveforms at different positions in the predetermined direction, the calculation unit selects one of the plurality of peak waveforms as a measurement peak waveform based on at least one of the peak position and waveform width of each peak waveform, and calculates the distance based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform; A laser scanner comprising:

2. The laser scanner according to claim 1 , wherein the calculation unit selects, as the measurement peak waveform, a peak waveform that indicates the closest distance from among the plurality of peak waveforms.

3. 3. The laser scanner according to claim 2, wherein the calculation unit excludes peak waveforms having a waveform width smaller than a predetermined value from the plurality of peak waveforms and selects the measurement peak waveform from the remaining peak waveforms.

4. The laser scanner according to claim 1 , wherein the calculation unit selects the peak waveform having the largest waveform width from among the plurality of peak waveforms as the measurement peak waveform.

5. the laser light is a spot-shaped laser beam, and the optical sensor is a one-dimensional optical sensor having a set of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in the predetermined direction, a scanning member that scans the laser beam in a line on the measurement object; 2. The laser scanner of claim 1, wherein the calculation unit sequentially acquires the peak waveforms at a plurality of measurement points irradiated with the laser beam to determine the two-dimensional shape of the object to be measured, and when there is a measurement point at which the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected, the calculation unit calculates the two-dimensional shape by excluding a predetermined number of mask points from the measurement points at which the peak waveform can be detected, the measurement points adjacent to the measurement points at which the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected.

6. The laser light is a line laser light that diffuses in a line shape toward the measurement object, the optical sensor is a two-dimensional optical sensor having a plurality of sets of light-receiving elements arranged in a row in the predetermined direction, in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction, and the reflected light of the line laser light irradiated on the measurement object at a plurality of different positions is received by a plurality of different sets of light-receiving elements, respectively; 2. The laser scanner according to claim 1, wherein the calculation unit is configured to calculate the distance to the object to be measured at each of the plurality of different positions based on the position in the specified direction of a peak waveform detected by each of the plurality of different sets of light-receiving elements.

7. 7. The laser scanner of claim 6, wherein the calculation unit acquires peak waveforms detected by each of the plurality of different sets of light receiving elements to determine the two-dimensional shape of the object to be measured, and when there is a measurement point at which the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected, the calculation unit calculates the two-dimensional shape by excluding a predetermined number of mask points from the measurement points at which the peak waveform can be detected, the measurement points adjacent to the measurement points at which the peak waveform cannot be substantially detected.

8. A laser scanner according to any one of claims 1 to 7; an articulated arm; The articulated three-dimensional measuring machine, wherein the laser device and the optical sensor of the laser scanner are attached to the tip of the articulated arm.

9. A distance measurement method using a laser, Irradiating a laser beam onto an object to be measured; receiving the reflected light of the laser light reflected by the measurement object with an optical sensor having at least one set of light receiving elements consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements arranged in a row in a predetermined direction; determining a distance to the object irradiated with the laser light based on a peak position in the predetermined direction of a peak waveform indicating a light intensity distribution of the reflected light received by the optical sensor; Including, In the distance measurement method, when the optical sensor simultaneously detects multiple peak waveforms at different positions in the predetermined direction in the distance calculation step, one of the multiple peak waveforms is selected as a measurement peak waveform based on at least one of the peak position and waveform width of each peak waveform, and the distance is calculated based on the peak position of the measurement peak waveform.

10. 10. The distance measuring method according to claim 9, wherein when selecting the measurement peak waveforms in the step of calculating the distance, a user can arbitrarily select whether to base the selection on the peak position or waveform width of each peak waveform.

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