But Google’s robotics researchers are exploring a way to fix that. They’ve developed a robot that can write its own programming code based on natural language instructions.

As workplace robots become more common in retail stores, hospitals, and warehouses, their human coworkers need to know how to use and reprogram them. Yet most people lack that kind of highly technical ...

For younger kids in the 5-to-6-year-old age range, Wigl is aimed at teaching basic music skills. The robot can move in different directions and light up depending on what musical notes a child plays.