THIS PAPER PRESENTS THE DESIGN CONCEPT AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT OF A FLEXIBLE INTEGRATED VISION SYSTEM (FIVS) WHICH ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR A HIGH-SPEED, ACCURATE, AND FLEXIBLE VISION SYSTEM. IN MAINTAINING A LOW COST AND COMPACT DESIGN, THE CAMERA WAS DESIGNED WITH A DSP-BASED MICROPROCESSOR AND ALL OTHER REQUIRED CIRCUITRY IN ONE UNIT. BY COMBINING THE IMAGE SENSOR AND PROCESSOR, THE IMAGE ANALYSIS IS NOT SLOWED BY THE DATA BUS OF THE HOST COMPUTER AND FRAME GRABBER. SINCE A WIDE VARIETY OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, PRODUCT DESIGNS, AND MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS ARE COMMONLY FOUND IN A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM, IT IS DESIRABLE TO HAVE A UNIQUE VISION SYSTEM WHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY OF THESE SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS WITH LITTLE OR NO MODIFICATION. THE FIVS SYSTEM WHICH IS DESIGNED TO COMMUNICATE WITH MULTIPLE PROCESSORS AND CCDS HAS POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN STEREO VISION AND COLOR