Sometimes “a man gotta do what a man gotta do” especially when a robot has a hardware failure.
Prior to this, I’d try to rework things “by eye” with results that were often dreadful. As in breaking off IC pins and destroying circuit board traces.
Solution:
A microscope for repairing surface-mount PCB’s.
This is a sample board, (from a tablet I am trying to repair) for demonstration purposes.
After breaking off a pin on the GoPiGo’s controller IC, I tried to solder to the pin with little success.
Using a microscope with a suitably small soldering iron tip and it works much better.
It doesn’t make my hand any less shaky, but it improves accuracy.