Abstract: An apparatus for bending an elongated material in any direction includes a chucking unit, an arm robot having at least three swiveling arm segments, a bending head provided on a free end of the arm segment and a moving device for moving the robot along a line parallel to the chucked material. The bending head is moved by the arm robot perpendicularly toward and away from the material. This facilitates the changing of the bending die to one having a different bending radius to execute bending using various radii. Moreover, since the chucking unit includes an avoiding mechanism for avoiding interference with the arm robot, bending near the center part of the material is also possible.

Abstract: A noncontact measuring device has a generally L-shaped pivotable and rotatable probe means to be disposed along a straight portion of an object. Another noncontact measuring device has a rotatable probe means with an inverted L-shape to be disposed along a straight portion of an object. The probe of the former device projects a beam of light, while that of the latter device projects two beams of light. For either measuring device, when the beam or beams of light are being intercepted by the object, coordinates of a predetermined point of the probe means are read by a three-dimensional shape measuring apparatus to which the device is connected.