A tweezer haptic interface for training surface mount device assembly

Given the wide skill gap prevalent in the developing nations today, providing vocational education to the unskilled promises to improve the quality of life of people. Vocational skills are practical competencies and the necessary underpinning knowledge that helps a person acquire gainful employment in the labor market. This paper focuses on a surface mount hand soldering technique which is a vocational skill that is needed in the electronics hardware industry. Surface mount hand soldering is a complex bimanual task that uses a tweezer tool and soldering iron for soldering a surface mount component on a printed circuit board. As this requires a lot of practice to master, our research aims to develop a haptic simulator to train the untrained on the required skills. In this paper we describe the design and development of a tweezer haptic interface for a soldering simulator. It also discusses the user studies and experiments that were helpful in deciding the specification of the device and the skill characterization of tools involved in surface mount soldering.