the component on the detection electronics according to certain embodiments of the invention the sensor data is representative of a side image of the component wherein the signal processing circuit in the stationary computer is adapted to compute the shape of the visual hull of the component at a plurality of rotational positions in side images of the component the location of edges of a contour of the component will be clearly visible the location of the edges of the contour varies during rotation of the component based on the displacement of the location of the edges the location of the corners of the component may be determined as described above e g in the summary section of the application inventive sensors for pick and place machines are provided using such inventive sensors the orientation of components may be determined with improved performance in terms of time reliability and or accuracy since the signal processing circuit in such sensors is primarily used to combine the sensor data and the rotational data into a data set while processing the data set will be done in the stationary computer the signal processing circuit in the sensor can be relatively simple however since the signal processing circuit is relatively close to the receive circuit and the detection electronics in the sensor real time formation of data sets may.