"Although many advances have been made in the mechatronics andcomputational hardware of artificial hands, the state of the artappears to be only marginally closer to a satisfactory functionalapproximation of the human hand than it was twenty years ago. Inmy analysis, the main reasons for this are not merely techni-cal,but invest some fundamental issues in the understanding of theorganization and control of hands, and ultimately the lack of atheory to guide us in the search for a principled approach totaming the complexity of hands. In this project, I propose tocontribute to the development of the fundamental elements of sucha theory, and bring them to fruition in functional engineereddevices. I expect to be able to break through the rather slowlymoving front of the state of the art because of the combinationof two crucial, recent innovations. The first pillar, and theprime theoretical enabler for this program, is an approach to thedescription of the organi-zation of the hand sensorimotor systemin terms of geometric constraints, or synergies: correlations inredun-dant hand mobility (motor synergies), correlations inredundant cutaneous and kinaesthetic receptor readings (multi-cueintegration), and overall sensorimotor controlsynergies. Elements of such theories have emerged recently inneurosciences, but their exploitation in the sciences of theartificial is an enormous potential barely touched upon tillnow. The second pillar, providing the new technology needed tobuild simpler and more effective artificial hands, is theunderstanding of the role of variable impedance actuation inembodying intelligent grasping and manipulation behaviours inhumans, and the availability of a new generation of “robotmuscles”, i.e. actuators capable of tuning their impedance toadapt to the environment and the task. These ideas will bepursued in close collaboration with specialists in relateddomains of neuroscience and robotics."