@ Jeff_Birt - 1998 that is a long time ago. A lot has changed for pick and place machines. They are building them with linear motors now.
@ Gus - I thought they looked somewhat like a by judging from the parts feeders. The old MyData machines fed the boards in from the rear which was less than ideal, from the video it looks like your machines are side loading though. I really liked how you could swap the whole feeder box while the machine was in operation. It made it a perfect machine for a high-mix application.
@ Michael - 1998 was not very long ago at all 
Heck in the early 90’s there were typewriters with linear motors for the carriage. You did not see them as much in automation as the power-performance/price point was not there yet. At that time MyData was using two DC motors for the X-axis one was for driving and the other for braking. It was a very unique design but it worked very well.
@ Justin - I don’t want to hijack the thread. If you want to contact me thom at my username dot com that’d be awesome.
@ Jeff_Birt - It still feeds boards in from the back side of the machine. Yes swapping out a whole box is nice especial with the new style feeders. The new style feeders feeds parts with a linear motor too. Super fast and very little maintenance.