Apparatus and a method for locating edges of a part for acceptance testing
of the part. A white light source (12) illuminates the part which is mounted
on a support (14) and rotated relative to the light source. Light reflected
by the part creates an outline of the part along the edge thereof. The part is
viewed by a camera (16) to obtain an image of the part including its edge.
A processor (18) analyzes the image to locate the edge of the part in three
dimensional space. Analysis of the image includes determining the number of pixels
comprising the viewed image, at the edge thereof, as the part is rotated relative
to the light source. The part has more than one edge, and each edge is located
using the method. The locations of the edges of the part are now used in a co-ordinate
system to locate other surface features of the part.