The U.S. Department of Defense has given five small drone manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, in the wake of last year’s ban on these agencies buying Chinese-made drones.

In late January, iRobot expanded a partnership with InTouch Health, a small company that enables doctors at computer screens to treat stroke victims and other patients from afar. And this week, Texas Instruments said it would supply iRobot with powerful new processors that could help the robots be more interactive and gradually lower their cost. "We have a firm belief that the robotics market is on the cusp of exploding," said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of the Texas Instruments unit that makes the processors. Mr. Angle's hopes for broadening the industry's appeal are shared by other robot companies, which have struggled to expand beyond industrial and military uses, toys and other niche products. Programming robots to mimic human behavior remains difficult.