Hi, SMT by hand is easy and inexpensive when you know how. Not always just for robots:) And you don't need to buy expensive hot-air rework stations etc.
I put alot the technqiues for SMT hand soldering in my product at
Also, there's a nice article on low cost DIY hot air rework, written by Tom Mathews and Timothy Toroni at National Semiconductor. It's called "Rework within your reach"
Also, Schmartboard are trying to make it easier for prototyping with SMT chips. They have a bunch of different types, for SOP, QFP, PLCC, BGA etc. They fan out to through-hole pads, which you can solder wires or pins to & then connect off to your breadboard
Kind regards, Anthony Burch