The automatic counting of wire bars and rods is an unsolved problem. To solve this problem

an image recognition approach which is based on the distance transform technique is presented in this paper. The profile images of wire bars and rods are captured by CCD cameras. In the image preprocessing the binary transform

erosion

dilation and open are conducted. The method of searching the seed spots in the distance transformed image is put forward

by which the numbers of wire bars and rods can be counted. The technique is verified by experiment that image are acquired in the factories. The counting results are not affected by the varieties and the profile shapes of wire bars and rods. This methodology is suitable for the image of wire bars and rods that are disorder and the pack are not trimness

so it is worthy of popularizing and applying.