A wire bending apparatus includes both a robot provided with a device for gripping and rotating a wire, and a suitable number of program-controlled benders. The robot grips a wire and supplies a portion of the wire to be bent to the program-controlled benders. The robot is rotated through a predetermined angle while gripping the wire according to a direction in which a next portion of the wire is to be bent, after which the wire is supplied to the program-controlled bender to bend the wire such that the wire is ultimately bent into a predetermined shape.