Indigo abroad: 2025 iCreate Conference
Indigo CEO Steve Glew and Marketplace and eCommerce Manager Sacha Marchant travelled to Thailand in November to attend the 2025 International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology, also known as the iCreate Conference.
The iCreate Conference welcomes people from all over the world to present, discuss, and learn about the latest assistive technology and developments in biomedical and rehabilitation engineering.
We were very excited to send Steve and Sacha to Bangkok to attend this conference to learn about new AT, highlight NED as a valuable support for the AT sector, and raise awareness of Indigo as a key Australian player.
Speaking of players, Steve and Sacha were able to see the latest in technology, like the team of AI-powered humanoid robot soccer players who could communicate with each other while on the field, or the half-underwater propeller, half-humanoid robot that could dive to 1000 metres deep and pick up pottery pieces from an an cient Roman shipwreck. The hands of the robot delivered haptic feedback to the user, which could have interesting developments in the AT field in the future, particularly for those with limb differences or impaired sensation.
The most interesting aspect of the conference, however, were the third-place winners of the Global Student Innovation Challenge (GSIC), from the University of New South Wales. These speech pathology students developed a low tech-communication device, consisting of a motherboard, frame, and 90 swappable cards, which, when pressed, vocalised the word or phrase on the card. They collaborated with a university in the Solomon Islands, where AT can be difficult to access, and worked to make their device accessible, building the frame and cards from recycled plastic from the islands’ build-up of plastic items, such as drink bottles.
It was was inspiring to see so many nations coming together and presenting their innovative ideas and assistive technology prototypes, which will one day revolutionise the world of AT.
