Hi,
[...] all I want is to know what sort of microcontrol er will I need and how to program it.
"All I want"??
You clearly don't know what you're asking, so my best advice is to start making a "Hello LED" program on whatever µcontroller you should choose - when you understand that in full, build out with a single extra function at a time.
note that the light array is a separate system and is in no way connected to the rest of the robot and the microcntroler should be small enough to be carried in a moving robot
You made that decision, but you are asking for help on that too - perhaps you should change your question to "do I need two separate circuits".
But, start small - crawling comes before walking.