Patent ID: 8218149

Claim:
An object detecting device, comprising: an information acquiring section which acquires information relating to a targeted area by using light; and a detecting section which detects an object in the targeted area based on the information acquired by the information acquiring section, the information acquiring section including: a light source which emits light in a predetermined wavelength region; a projection optical system which projects the light from the light source toward the targeted area; a light receiving element which receives reflected light reflected from the targeted area to output a signal; and a light receiving optical system which guides the reflected light to the light receiving element, wherein the light receiving optical system has a filter for transmitting the light emitted from the light source and reflected from the target area, and the filter is inclined toward a propagating direction of the reflected light to approximate a transmissive wavelength region of the filter to the wavelength region of the light from the light source, wherein the information acquiring section further includes a filter actuator which changes the inclination of the filter with respect to the reflected light, and a filter controlling section which controls the inclination of the filter via the filter actuator to optimize the signal from the light receiving element based on the signal outputted from the light receiving element.