What is the point of teaching coding and robotics to kids as young as six years old?
I think the intent of such courses is to teach Computational Thinking, not programming as such. Programming is, I think, just one tool among others. 

There has been quite a lot of activity recently on computational thinking, which is a good thing. Any "patterns of thought" that can be distinguished and taught seems to me to be a good thing. We teach math and language skills for about the same reason to youngsters. For just about anyone, having several differnt "ways of thinking" gives you an advantage as you grow. 

Also, coding implies the "creation" of things. When I was about 5 years old my schoolroom had a set of very large building blocks. We created structures with those and I always look back on that as a good thing to have done. For youngsters the act of creation is a really good thing to teach, no matter the medium (art, music, ..., programming). 

But educators aren't trying to create coders as a profession at that age, any more than we are trying to create "professional readers". It is just a tool to aid cognitive development (or should be). 

Do a web search on "computational thinking" to see some things about where this comes from. One of my doctoral students has focused her career on these ideas, actually. 

See CS Unplugged for a closely related set of ideas. 



Let me add a couple of points. 

First, robotics, especially, can be fun. Creativity paired with fun is a winner. 

Next, in as much as students are able to create useful programs, those skills can be used (and expanded) later in their education. A bit of coding in a math or science course (at least) can add to the learning process of those subjects and, one hopes, help the student generate insights that will deepen their knowledge. 



However, I have very mixed feeling about things like Code.org. These are being pushed by large companies with an agenda that is not, fundamentally, education centered. They seem a lot like marketing programs to me. I also worry, at least a bit, on the overemphasis of programming games. While games can be motivating, I think they give too narrow a focus. Commercial games also very likely have an overall negative effect on student learning and growth. There have been recent studies showing young students spending too much time looking at screens in more or less nonproductive ways. The time might be better spent building with blocks and kicking balls around. I'm a much bigger fan of things in CS Unplugged than I am of code.org.