Articulated arm CMM

An articulated arm comprising:

• a first end and a second end, the second end configured to support a tool;
• at least two longitudinal extending arm sections between the first end and the second end, wherein each pair of adjacent arm sections is connected with each other by a pivot joint having an integrated angle encoder generating encoder signals indicating the relative position of the arm sections;
• and
• electronic transmission means for transmitting encoder signals from the angle encoders towards a circuit configured to derive at least the relative position between the adjacent arm sections from the encoder signals and to a reference point or reference coordinate system;
• wherein the articulated arm coordinate measuring machine is a modular construction, wherein the arm sections are configured as arm section modules having a printed circuit board unit, said printed circuit board unit elongated printed circuit board section element printed circuit board encoder element end of the elongated printed circuit board section comprises an and at least one connected to one element;
• wherein the printed circuit board encoder elements of adjacent arm sections are arranged face to face and pivotable against each other around a common axis, so that they form an angle encoder;
• and
• wherein the printed circuit board section elements comprise the electronic transmission means for transmitting the encoder signals from the printed circuit board encoder elements toward the circuit.