A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF 2 - D WIRESHAPES IS PRESENTED. BOTH THE RIGID AND THE NON-RIGID CASE ARE EXPLORED. THE PROPOSED METHODOLOGY IS BASED ON A CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SKELETON OF THE SHAPE IN TERMS OF A SET OF TWO TOPOLOGICAL ROBUST FEATURES: TERMINALT POINTS (TPS), I.E. POINTS WHIT JUST ONE NEIGHBOR AND THREE-EDGE-POINTS (TEPS), IE POINTS WITH ONLY THREE NEGHBORS. THE NUMBER OF TPS AND TEPS IN THE SKELETON ARE USED AS INPUTS TO LOOK UP THE OBJECT´S DATABASE FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF THE SHAPE. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE PROFITS THE ADVANTAGES OF THE FAST DISTANCE TRANSFORMATION (FDT) TO RAPIDLY OBTAIN THE SKELETON. THESE TOW CHARACTERISTICS MAKE OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH A FAST AND SIMPLE METHOD FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF 2 - D BINARY OBJECTS, WHICH IS DESIRED FOR REAL TIME APPLICATIONS.A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF 2 - D WIRESHAPES IS PRESENTED. BOTH THE RIGID AND THE NON-RIGID CASE ARE EXPLORED. THE PROPOSED METHODOLOGY IS BASED ON A CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SKELETON OF THE SHAPE IN TERMS OF A SET OF TWO TOPOLOGICAL ROBUST FEATURES: TERMINALT POINTS (TPS), I.E. POINTS WHIT JUST ONE NEIGHBOR AND THREE-EDGE-POINTS (TEPS), IE POINTS WITH ONLY THREE NEGHBORS. THE NUMBER OF TPS AND TEPS IN THE SKELETON ARE USED AS INPUTS TO LOOK UP THE OBJECT'S DATABASE FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF THE SHAPE. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE PROFITS THE ADVANTAGES OF THE FAST DISTANCE TRANSFORMATION (FDT) TO RAPIDLY OBTAIN THE SKELETON. THESE TOW CHARACTERISTICS MAKE OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH A FAST AND SIMPLE METHOD FOR THE FAST RECOGNITION OF 2 - D BINARY OBJECTS, WHICH IS DESIRED FOR REAL TIME APPLICATIONS.