The invention relates to a power knife switch switch-on and switch-off position state identification method suitable for a power operating robot. The method comprises the steps of (1) establishing a template: acquiring an image containing a knife switch as a modeling image, establishing a positioning area template and a knife switch template area, and generating a positioning template image and atarget template image, (2) collecting a new knife switch image and solving a perspective transformation diagram of a new knife switch to the positioning template image, (3) positioning a target and locating the position of the knife switch in the perspective transformation diagram, (4) calculating the similarity between knife switch areas of a target template image and the perspective transformation diagram, and (5) judging a knife switch state: judging the state of the knife switch in the newly collected knife switch image according to the located knife switch position, the similarity and a knife switch state in a knife switch template image. According to the method, the problem of the automatic recognition of a switch state in a smart grid is solved, the labor cost is reduced, and the inspection efficiency is improved.