A system recognizes the outline of an object that includes, at its edge, a portion including a rollover or a chipped portion. An image processing unit finds an outline of an object having a flat face from an image captured perpendicular to the flat face. A dark-transition-boundary detecting unit detects, on each of a plurality of recognition lines, a possible boundary point of dark-transition where a bright-to-dark transition occurs from outside toward inside of the object. A bright-transition-boundary detecting unit detects a possible boundary point of bright-transition where a dark-to-bright transition occurs from outside toward inside of the object. An edge detecting unit detects an edge point on the basis of the possible dark-transition-boundary point and the possible bright-transition-boundary point. An outline-determining unit determines an outline of the object that minimizes the sum of deviations between the outline and the respective edge points detected on the recognition lines.