iRobot has embraced the hacking that's already happening on its Roomba robotic vacuums by releasing a new little robot it's calling the "Create 2." The $200 device is essentially a refurbished Roomba 600 that's had all the vacuum parts removed and replaced with empty space and new smarts that make it easy to program and hack. It still has the basic navigation and movement behavior of a Roomba, including hugging walls and getting itself out of tight spots, and it comes with a green cover that shows you exactly where it's safe to cut and drill if you want to put your own gear in it.

iRobot is positioning the Create 2 as the ideal platform for education. It comes with a USB to Serial cable so you can program it from your computer and also works well with Adruino and Raspberry Pi controllers. But obviously the most important thing to know is how easy it is to turn the little guy into a roving music machine. Very easy, it turns out: iRobot is seeding some basic plans for students to get started with, and one of them is a full set of instructions for adding a Bluetooth speaker system.