Dexter is a platform for studying bi-manual dexterity designed to help us study the acquisition of concepts and cognitive representations from interaction with the world. We are addressing central issues in cognitive science and artificial intelligence: the origins of conceptual systems, the role of native structure, computational complexity issues, and knowledge representation. The goal of the research is to advance computational accounts for sensorimotor and cognitive development in a manner that leads to new theories for controlling intelligent robots, and provides a basis for shared meaning between humans and machines. Research is underway toward mechanisms for learning hierarchical control knowledge - categories of objects, activities, tasks, and situations - through a continuous interaction with the environment. Web site: http://www-robotics.cs.umass.edu/Rese...