New generation of robotic systems will operate in complex, unstructured environments of industrial plants utilizing sophisticated sensory mechanisms. In this paper we consider development of autonomous robotic systems for various inspection and manipulation tasks associated with advanced nuclear power plants. Our approach in the development of the robotic system is to utilize an array of sensors capable of sensing the robot's environment in several sensory modalities. One of the most important sensor modality utilized is that of vision. We describe the development of a model-based vision system for performing a number of inspection and manipulation tasks. The system is designed and tested using a laboratory based test panel. A number of analog and digital meters and a variety of switches, valves and controls are mounted on the panel. The paper presents details of system design and development and a series of experiments performed to evaluate capabilities of the vision system.