Abstract: A system for generating electrical signals relating to the position and orientation of a part supported on a reference surface for use by manipulating devices includes an image converter tube which receives the light information from a test part and the surface. The scanned output of the tube is digitized and provided to a digital unit which isolates data representing the outline of the part in the direction of viewing. The system then calculates the centroid of the outlined area and a signature radius identifying the orientation of distinctive boundary transitions of the part relative to the centroid. Subsequently, similar parts supported on the reference surface are scanned by the video system and the digitized outputs are analyzed to calculate the position of the centroid of these parts relative to a reference location and the angular displacements of the parts relative to the rotational orientation of the test part.