Innovators

biodesigns is the vision of our CEO Randall Alley whose goal is to revolutionize the design, development, and deployment of human interface technologies. Our team is comprised of prosthetists, engineers, researchers, and brand strategists, with one thing in common – a passion for helping people and a rejection of the status quo.

RANDALL ALLEY   CEO/Founder   |

Randall Alley is CEO, Chief Prosthetist and Head of User-Interface Technology for biodesigns, a clinical services and R&D facility specializing in the optimization of human interfaces for prostheses, orthoses, exoskeletons, and wearable technology. Alley is a board certified prosthetist and received both his prosthetic certificate and Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from UCLA. Alley’s clinical experience and intimate understanding of force, pressure, shear, rotation, tissue management, weight, and feedback, especially in relationship to wearer device usability and acceptance, led him to redefine human device connection platforms. Alley holds numerous patents for his attachment technologies, with his focus of study on non-surgical, non-invasive performance-enhancing interface systems designed to provide improved feedback, proprioception, and efficiency of movement.
Alley has 30 years’ experience fitting challenging prosthetic patients. As co-founder and former director of the world’s largest upper limb prosthetic program, he traveled the world solving hundreds of complex prosthetic cases, often creating innovative solutions in real time. It was his dissatisfaction with the numerous issues caused by the Standard Of Care sockets that led him to dedicate his career to improving the interface.
Alley’s work goes a step further as his goal is complete embodiment, i.e. being one with the device. Alley has already documented this phenomenon in his clinic as his patients regularly report their prostheses feel like a part of them, feel connected to them. Many report phantom sensations returning to their limb(s), allowing users to “feel” the ground and prevent falls and stumbles. This degree of acceptance breaks the boundaries of what many thought was possible in a non-surgical, non-sensorized attachment.

FORGET

You are asked to accept delivery of a device, often sacrificing comfort, function, and performance. We go beyond mere acceptance and instead strive for full and complete (non-surgical) integration of your mind and body to your attached device. With our HiFi Interface System, our users often FORGET they are wearing them.

FEEL

Millions are being spent on invasive surgical techniques to try and find a way to replicate a sense of touch and proprioception – NEWSFLASH – our wearers are getting it now, without surgery. With our HiFi Interface System, many of our wearers FEEL as though their amputated limb(s) are back, allowing them to feel the ground and prevent falls.

FREEDOM

Whether you wear a prosthesis or orthosis, are a soldier with heavy equipment, an elite athlete or recreational enthusiast with gear, you are being held back by current device attachments. Liberate yourself from archaic designs and feel the FREEDOM of true device connectivity with our HiFi Interface System. Take your game to the next level.
Alley was the interface consultant hired by DEKA R&D for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) “Revolutionizing Prosthetics” program, aimed to develop the next-generation upper limb prosthesis for the military (the “LUKE” Arm). This project allowed Alley’s connection design to be tested with physician oversight and proved to be the ideal interface platform for the DEKA bionic arm. His success led to a $1.5M Direct to Phase II plus Option DARPA SBIR contract. As Principal Investigator, he developed unique sensorized tools to standardize and optimize the interface fitting process and developed an innovative dynamic modular interface design. As a result, Alley is establishing criteria to relate fitment diagnostics to prosthesis performance. Alley’s latest contract was from the Army and focused on creating interface designs for improved exoskeleton function and performance.
In addition to his research and private practice, Alley has dedicated much of his career to educating prosthetists and other allied health professionals on biomechanically sound attachment techniques domestically and abroad, including several NHS facilities. Alley has presented at numerous seminars, congresses, and military hospitals, including his DARPA work at the Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) efforts for Reestablishing the Neuromuscular Connection in 2017 and 2018.
He also was a clinical columnist and has contributed to five upper limb prosthetic textbooks. His accolades include a Certificate of Appreciation from the Department of the Army for his upper limb training of military medical personnel, NovaCare Orthotics and Prosthetics’ Chairman’s Award, the Excellence Award for Innovation from Hanger Inc. as Director of Clinical Development for Innovative Neurotronics, the Clinical Creativity Award and a Fellow from the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists (AAOP), the Red Dot Product Design Award and the 2016 IEEE Design Award for his HiFi Interface System. Alley has appeared in national and local magazines, newspapers, radio and TV programs including Good Morning America and the Doctors.

Alley's Professional Bio

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Notable Speaking Engagements

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