This paper describes a flexible automated soldering system to handle meso and micro-scale soldering operations. The system is guided by a vision system and consists of two micromanipulators, an XY motion stage, and a solder pen with an automatic solder feeder. One micromanipulator is used to hold and position the solder pen and attached solder feeder in the workspace; the second micromanipulator is used to hold and position the wire(s) to be soldered on to a printed circuit board (PCB). After hardware and vision system calibration, the user can select point(s) from a real-time image of the workspace for the desired soldering operations to occur. The soldering process is then carried out automatically two different ways: 1. By servoing the XY motion stage with the PCB to position it under the soldering manipulator followed by the solder operation; or 2. By moving the soldering manipulator to the target soldering sites on the PCB that remain stationary. Experimental results for both scenarios are presented and discussed for soldering single and multiple wires at a time. This system provides a flexible manufacturing solution for operations that demand custom micro-soldering operations in a 2D plane.
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