Patent ID: 7734445

Claim:
A shape measuring device that measures a shape of a surface of a measurement object, the shape measuring device comprising: a base to which the measurement object is secured; a slide movable in at least three different directions and secured to the base; a probe holding unit configured to hold the probe, and mounted to the slide; a contact probe resiliently supported by the probe holding unit to move along the surface of the measurement object; a measuring unit configured to measure the position and a posture of the contact probe with respect to the probe holding unit; a calculating unit configured to calculate a contact-force vector, which the contact probe receives from the measurement object, from a measurement result of the measuring unit; and a controlling unit configured to move the contact probe along the surface of the measurement object, and to control a position of the probe holding unit so that a magnitude of the contact-force vector comes closer to a control target value thereof in accordance with the magnitude of the contact-force vector.