I'm interested in your PnP machine.
My need is very similar to your original needs, assembling prototype PCBs.
I need to be able to place some 0.4 mm pitch components.
I did that manually under microscope on the current PCB revision, but shaky hands made that a pretty annoying work. (The 10X stereo microscope made the visual part problem free).
I am wondering about the status of the manually assisted placement* and also what is the smallest delta step possible in X,Y + component rotation of the steppers in manual mode?
What is the alignment precision of the top camera vs the placer needle vs the bottom camera ?
Would I need a small third macro camera close to the vacuum needle for human visual feedback to achieve the precision for 0.4 mm pitch IC to ensure that the IC is in the correct position relative the pads?
* 3: Manually assisted placement: Machine takes a picture of the part, picks it up and places the image as close as the real position that it can; the user fine-tunes the placement manually. I have done some work towards this. Obviously the snapshot image quality needs enhancement, but this image tells the idea: