Pick and place machine with improved vision system

A pick and place machine is disclosed which includes an on-head linescan sensor, and at least one additional optical sensor. The at least one additional sensor can be an off-head linescan sensor, an off-head or on-head 2D camera, an on-head shadow (e.g. one which shadows or images the profile of a component onto a detector, such as a LaserAlign(R)) sensor, an off-head or on-head coplanarity sensor, or an on-head or off-head fiducial camera. The additional optical sensor is disposed to provide essential placement information in the form of orientation information or inspection information. Combinations of the aforementioned additional sensor can also be used in embodiments of the present invention of the pick-and-place machine. The present invention is particularly useful with multi-head component placement machines, although it is usable with single head machines as well.