Articulated coordinate measuring machines (ACMMs) have the advantages of portability, light weight, large measurement range, etc., and are widely applied in the quality inspection fields of automotive industry, aeronautics and astronautics, mold manufacturing, assembly of largescale equipment and etc. ACMMs consist of 6 or 7 rotation joints in series. Force balance mechanism is installed on the joint near the base, which improves the operation capability of ACMMs greatly. The angle measuring systems are achieved with high precision angle encoders installed on the rotation joints. Optical scanning probe is applied on ACMMs to achieve the noncontact and rapid measurement of complicated surface. In order to obtain the more accurate measurement model, several methods for modelling and parameter identification are studied, and the performance evaluation standards of ACMMs are proposed by different international organizations. This paper introduces the key technologies and future development trends of ACMMs.