Pick-and-place machines are used to quickly and precisely place electronic components onto printed circuit boards. The open source IndexPnP with software powered by OpenPnP is a new cheap DIY pick-and-place machine.
Commercial options cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. There are several open source designs already out there, a portion of which are listed on the OpenPnP website. The cheapest of these designs is still $1000, with a particular shout-out to the open-source LitePlacer which can be purchased as a kit for $1700.
The IndexPnP, however, costs just $500 as detailed in the bill of materials. An excellent GitHub page documents all the design files, and over 1.5 hours of entertaining Youtube videos walks you through not just the construction of the device but the ideas behind the design.
The IndexPnP is a work in progress, as stated in the GitHub. The design has no camera right now, but the open-source nature of the project makes it easy to modify. Eventually IndexPnP plans to support solder paste dispensing, automatic reflow, and automatic optical inspection.