<PAGE>

       As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 3, 1996
                                                           Registration No. 333-

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C.  20549
                                -----------------

                                    FORM S-8
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      Under
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                -----------------


                          ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS, INC.
             (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

                DELAWARE                               11-2400145
     (State or other jurisdiction of                (I.R.S. Employer
     incorporation or organization)              Identification Number)

                              425 RABRO DRIVE EAST
                           HAUPPAUGE, NEW YORK  11788
                    (Address of principal executive offices)


                                 1996 STOCK PLAN
                            (Full title of the Plan)


                             PAT V. COSTA, PRESIDENT
                          Robotic Vision Systems, Inc.
                              425 Rabro Drive East
                            Hauppauge, New York 11788
                                 (516) 273-9700
 (Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

                                -----------------

                                 with a copy to:

                              IRA I. ROXLAND, Esq.
                           Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft
                                529 Fifth Avenue
                            New York, New York  10017
                                 (212) 599-0500


                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE


   Title of                      Proposed maximum Proposed maximum   Amount of
 securities to     Amount to be   offering price      aggregate     registraton
 be registered      registered      per share*     offering price*      fee
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock,
 par value
 $.01 per
 share . . . . .  1,000,000 shs.      $17.25         $17,250,000     $5,948.28
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  *  Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the amount of the
registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(h).

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<PAGE>

PART II.  INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

          The following documents, filed by Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (the
"Registrant") with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated
herein by reference and made a part hereof:

          1.   Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
               September 30, 1995;

          2.   Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter
               ended December 31, 1995;

          3.   Registrant's Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-
               195); and

          4.   Registrant's Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 0-8623)
               containing a description of Registrant's Common Stock, par value
               $.01 per share (the "Common Stock").

          All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a),
13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act")
after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-
effective amendment to this Registration Statement which indicates that all
Common Stock registered hereby has been sold or which deregisters such Common
Stock then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in
this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of
such documents (such documents, and the documents listed above, being
hereinafter referred to as "Incorporated Documents").  Any statement contained
in an Incorporated Document shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for
purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained
herein or in any other subsequently filed Incorporated Document modifies or
supersedes such statement.  Any such statement so modified or superseded shall
not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this
Registration Statement.

Item 4.   DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

          The Common Stock of Registrant is registered under Section 12 of the
Exchange Act.

Item 5.   INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

          Not Applicable

Item 6.   INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS.

          Article SEVENTH of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant
provides with respect to the indemnification of directors and officers that the
Registrant shall indemnify to the fullest extent permitted by Section 145 of the
Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended from time to time, each person that
such Section grants the Registrant power to indemnify.  Article TENTH of the
Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant also provides that no director
shall be liable to the corporation or any of its stockholders for monetary
damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except with respect to (1) a
breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the corporation of its stockholders,
(2) acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct
or a knowing violation of law, (3) liability under


                                        2
<PAGE>

Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law or (4) a transaction from
which the director derived an improper personal benefit, it being the intention
of the foregoing provision to eliminate the ability of the corporation's
directors to the corporation or its stockholders to the fullest extent permitted
by Section 102(b)(7) of Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended from time
to time.

          Section 145 of the Delaware Corporation Law provides, inter alia, that
to the extent a director, officer, employee or agent of a corporation has been
successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any action, suit or
proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative or in
defense of any claim, issue or matter therein (hereinafter, a "Proceeding"), by
reason of the fact that he is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of a
corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a
director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a partnership,
joint venture, trust or other enterprise (collectively an "Agent" of the
corporation), he shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys'
fees) actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection therewith.

          Section 145 also provides that a corporation may indemnify any person
who was or is a party or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any
threatened Proceeding by reason of the fact that he is or was an Agent of the
corporation, against expenses (including attorneys' fees) judgments, fines and
amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection
with such action, suit or proceeding if he acted in good faith and in a manner
he reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the
corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no
reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful; provided, however, that in
an action by or in the right of the corporation, the corporation may not
indemnify such person in respect of any claim, issue, or matter as to which he
is adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless, and only to the extent that,
the Court of Chancery or the court in which such proceeding was brought
determines that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the
circumstances of the case, such person is reasonably entitled to indemnity.

Item 7.   EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

          Not Applicable.

Item 8.   EXHIBITS.

     4         1996 Stock Plan

     5         Opinion of Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft as to the legality of
               the Common Stock registered hereby

     23(a)     Consent of Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft (Reference is made to
               Exhibit 5 herein)

     23(b)     Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

     23(c)     Consent of Arthur Andersen LLP

Item 9.   UNDERTAKINGS.

          (a)  The Registrant hereby undertakes:

               (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made of the


                                        3
<PAGE>

securities registered hereby, a post-effective amendment to this Registration
Statement;

               (i)  to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
                    the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act");

              (ii)  to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
                    after the effective date of this Registration Statement (or
                    the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which,
                    individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental
                    change in the information set forth in this Registration
                    Statement; and

             (iii)  to include any material information with respect to the plan
                    of distribution not previously disclosed in this
                    Registration Statement or any material change to such
                    information in this Registration Statement;

provided, however, that the undertakings set forth in paragraphs (i) and (ii)
above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-
effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed
by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

               (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

               (3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered hereby which remain unsold at
the termination of the offering.

          (b)  The Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of Registrant's
annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed
to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein,
and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the
initial bona fide offering thereof.

          (c)  Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation
of the Registrant and the provisions of the Delaware law described under Item 6
above, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Securities Act, and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a
claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by
the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action,
suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person
in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless
in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling
precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether
such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.


                                        4
<PAGE>

                                   SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant
certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the
requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration
Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the Village of Hauppauge, State of New York, on the 2nd day of
May, 1996.

                              ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS, INC.


                              By: /s/Pat V. Costa
                                  ------------------------
                                   Pat V. Costa, President


     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on the dates indicated.

      SIGNATURE                       TITLE                              DATE
      ---------                       -----                              ----

                              Chairman of the Board
                              President and Director
/s/Pat V. Costa               (Principal Executive Officer)          May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Pat V. Costa

                              Executive Vice President,
                              Secretary/Treasurer and
                              Director (Principal Financial
                              Officer and Principal
/s/Robert H. Walker           Accounting Officer                     May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Robert H. Walker

                              Senior Vice President
/s/Howard Stern               and Director                           May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Howard Stern



                              Director
- ------------------
Donald F. Domnick


/s/Jay M. Haft                Director                               May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Jay M. Haft



                              Director
- ------------------
Frank A. DiPietro



                              Director
- ------------------
Mark J. Lerner
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 14912}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS INC", "cik": "0000225868", "assigned-sic": "3823", "irs-number": "112400145", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "0930"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-03139", "film-number": "96556208"}, "business-address": {"street1": "425 RABRO DR EAST", "city": "HAUPPAUGE", "state": "NY", "zip": "11788", "phone": "5162739700"}, "former-company": {"former-conformed-name": "SOLID PHOTOGRAPHY INC", "date-changed": "19810819"}}
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 3, 1996
                                                           Registration No. 333-

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C.  20549
                                -----------------

                                    FORM S-8
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      Under
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                -----------------

                          ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS, INC.
             (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

                DELAWARE                               11-2400145
     (State or other jurisdiction of                (I.R.S. Employer
     incorporation or organization)              Identification Number)

                              425 RABRO DRIVE EAST
                           HAUPPAUGE, NEW YORK  11788
                    (Address of principal executive offices)

                                 1996 STOCK PLAN
                            (Full title of the Plan)

                             PAT V. COSTA, PRESIDENT
                          Robotic Vision Systems, Inc.
                              425 Rabro Drive East
                            Hauppauge, New York 11788
                                 (516) 273-9700
 (Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

                                -----------------

                                 with a copy to:

                              IRA I. ROXLAND, Esq.
                           Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft
                                529 Fifth Avenue
                            New York, New York  10017
                                 (212) 599-0500

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

   Title of                      Proposed maximum Proposed maximum   Amount of
 securities to     Amount to be   offering price      aggregate     registraton
 be registered      registered      per share*     offering price*      fee
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock,
 par value
 $.01 per
 share . . . . .  1,000,000 shs.      $17.25         $17,250,000     $5,948.28
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  *  Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the amount of the
registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(h).

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART II.  INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

          The following documents, filed by Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (the
"Registrant") with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated
herein by reference and made a part hereof:

          1.   Registrant's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
               September 30, 1995;

          2.   Registrant's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter
               ended December 31, 1995;

          3.   Registrant's Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-
               195); and

          4.   Registrant's Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 0-8623)
               containing a description of Registrant's Common Stock, par value
               $.01 per share (the "Common Stock").

          All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a),
13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act")
after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-
effective amendment to this Registration Statement which indicates that all
Common Stock registered hereby has been sold or which deregisters such Common
Stock then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in
this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of
such documents (such documents, and the documents listed above, being
hereinafter referred to as "Incorporated Documents").  Any statement contained
in an Incorporated Document shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for
purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained
herein or in any other subsequently filed Incorporated Document modifies or
supersedes such statement.  Any such statement so modified or superseded shall
not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this
Registration Statement.

Item 4.   DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

          The Common Stock of Registrant is registered under Section 12 of the
Exchange Act.

Item 5.   INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

          Not Applicable

Item 6.   INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS.

          Article SEVENTH of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant
provides with respect to the indemnification of directors and officers that the
Registrant shall indemnify to the fullest extent permitted by Section 145 of the
Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended from time to time, each person that
such Section grants the Registrant power to indemnify.  Article TENTH of the
Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant also provides that no director
shall be liable to the corporation or any of its stockholders for monetary
damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except with respect to (1) a
breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the corporation of its stockholders,
(2) acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct
or a knowing violation of law, (3) liability under

                                        2
Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law or (4) a transaction from
which the director derived an improper personal benefit, it being the intention
of the foregoing provision to eliminate the ability of the corporation's
directors to the corporation or its stockholders to the fullest extent permitted
by Section 102(b)(7) of Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended from time
to time.

          Section 145 of the Delaware Corporation Law provides, inter alia, that
to the extent a director, officer, employee or agent of a corporation has been
successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any action, suit or
proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative or in
defense of any claim, issue or matter therein (hereinafter, a "Proceeding"), by
reason of the fact that he is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of a
corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a
director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a partnership,
joint venture, trust or other enterprise (collectively an "Agent" of the
corporation), he shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys'
fees) actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection therewith.

          Section 145 also provides that a corporation may indemnify any person
who was or is a party or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any
threatened Proceeding by reason of the fact that he is or was an Agent of the
corporation, against expenses (including attorneys' fees) judgments, fines and
amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection
with such action, suit or proceeding if he acted in good faith and in a manner
he reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the
corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no
reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful; provided, however, that in
an action by or in the right of the corporation, the corporation may not
indemnify such person in respect of any claim, issue, or matter as to which he
is adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless, and only to the extent that,
the Court of Chancery or the court in which such proceeding was brought
determines that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the
circumstances of the case, such person is reasonably entitled to indemnity.

Item 7.   EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

          Not Applicable.

Item 8.   EXHIBITS.

     4         1996 Stock Plan

     5         Opinion of Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft as to the legality of
               the Common Stock registered hereby

     23(a)     Consent of Parker Duryee Rosoff & Haft (Reference is made to
               Exhibit 5 herein)

     23(b)     Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

     23(c)     Consent of Arthur Andersen LLP

Item 9.   UNDERTAKINGS.

          (a)  The Registrant hereby undertakes:

               (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are
being made of the

                                        3
securities registered hereby, a post-effective amendment to this Registration
Statement;

               (i)  to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
                    the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act");

              (ii)  to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
                    after the effective date of this Registration Statement (or
                    the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which,
                    individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental
                    change in the information set forth in this Registration
                    Statement; and

             (iii)  to include any material information with respect to the plan
                    of distribution not previously disclosed in this
                    Registration Statement or any material change to such
                    information in this Registration Statement;

provided, however, that the undertakings set forth in paragraphs (i) and (ii)
above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-
effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed
by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
that are incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement.

               (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

               (3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered hereby which remain unsold at
the termination of the offering.

          (b)  The Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of Registrant's
annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act
that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed
to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein,
and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the
initial bona fide offering thereof.

          (c)  Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation
of the Registrant and the provisions of the Delaware law described under Item 6
above, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Securities Act, and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a
claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by
the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action,
suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person
in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless
in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling
precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether
such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                        4
SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Registrant
certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the
requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration
Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the Village of Hauppauge, State of New York, on the 2nd day of
May, 1996.

                              ROBOTIC VISION SYSTEMS, INC.

                              By: /s/Pat V. Costa
                                  ------------------------
                                   Pat V. Costa, President

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on the dates indicated.

      SIGNATURE                       TITLE                              DATE
      ---------                       -----                              ----

                              Chairman of the Board
                              President and Director
/s/Pat V. Costa               (Principal Executive Officer)          May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Pat V. Costa

                              Executive Vice President,
                              Secretary/Treasurer and
                              Director (Principal Financial
                              Officer and Principal
/s/Robert H. Walker           Accounting Officer                     May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Robert H. Walker

                              Senior Vice President
/s/Howard Stern               and Director                           May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Howard Stern

                              Director
- ------------------
Donald F. Domnick

/s/Jay M. Haft                Director                               May 2, 1996
- ------------------
Jay M. Haft

                              Director
- ------------------
Frank A. DiPietro

                              Director
- ------------------
Mark J. Lerner