Ever increasing competition in international markets drives manufacturers to shorten design cycles and reduce manufacturing times and costs for their products. This trend generates a demand for smart, flexible and faster machining systems, which are easy to set up and configure and able to drastically increase productivity, while improving final accuracy. Therefore the primary goal is to achieve cost-effective structural solutions consisting of a new class of “Modular Adaptronic devices” based on smart and multifunctional actuators/sensors capable of performing a wide array of multiple functions, ranging from high and adaptable damping and stiffness characteristics to more demanding new requirements such as structural and measuring/ active-control function in order to achieve extremely high dynamic/thermal stability required in fast and precision machining. This project aims at designing, developing and validating the following novel adaptronic modules for machine tools applications: - Adaptronic interface for Active Vibration Control (AVC) and superfine positioning - Adaptronic framework for thermal compensation based on FBG fibre optics