The design is a simple analog for a human hand. For simplicity, a plastic toy armor gauntlet was used as the platform for the five actuators. One happened to be available. A simple wooden board or other platform would have served, but wouldn't have looked as nice.
The thumb is opposed to the fingers as in a human hand. This allows for some gripping capability. However, because all the fingers are fixed with only the ability to flex as their movement, the effectiveness of the gripper is limited. In a human hand, there are many more degrees of freedom, of course.
