A placement robot includes a micro alignment pick-up head (MAP) to hold a component for placement on a substrate. The MAP includes a retention member that may be a vacuum pick-up nozzle for component retention and has two main parts: an upper body and a lower body. The upper body and the lower body are separated from one another by an air bearing which provides near-frictionless performance and allows the lower body a range of motion relative to the upper body. The MAP is either nullattachednull or nullloose.null Micropositioning actuators provide fine positioning in the X and/or Y directions.