Ok I'll start this off with my husband showed me this cute robot from www.anki.com that is a mix between Wall-E and Eve. It had creative input from a Wall-E animator so no wonder why. It has moods, facial recognition, roams around, plays games, sounds like wall-e and picks up cubes. It has some pre-programmed actions, but it is customizable with python web code. My husband is a website coder as his job, but he doesn't know python. He is planning to learn it just to see what he can do with it. He also said it looked simple enough(says the website coder). My kids are too young to start programming, but he's thinking about buying two so they have one to program themselves. It's designed for ages 8+. It connects to a phone with Wi-Fi to connect with a computer, if you want to program it. It is set to be in stores in Oct '16, but the presale saves about $20 per Cozmo under market price ($160 rather than $180). The site says a later SDK release will include kid friendly programming.
other recent robots to check out:
Vortex- uses games to teach kids code, uses Bluetooth to connect with mobile or tablet ($69)
Ringo- Arduino powered bug ($100)
Meccanoid- buildable robot recommended for age 10+, programmable movements by recording how you move robot, using the camera to record your movements, or through an app on phone or tablet ($90-$210, 2 or 4 ft tall)
Buddy- marketed as companion robot, connects to smart devices, does house patrol when house is empty, can teach you to program it ($700)
JD humanoid- walks, dances, stands from sitting, vision recognition, controlled through mobile app ($430)