OBJECT CLASSIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

An object classification and identification system including stored discriminator quantities indicative of the surface characteristics of known objects; an arm coupled to a detector which provides a voltage signal which varies relative to the surface characteristics of a detected object as the arm moves over the detected object; a computer programmed to calculate a plurality of discriminator quantities indicative of the surface characteristics of the detected object based on the voltage signal; and a neural network used for matching the calculated discriminator quantities of the detected object with the stored discriminator quantities indicative of the surface characteristics of known object.