XR Haptics – Open XR Advanced Haptics APIs Proposal

The XR Haptics group submitted a high-level proposal for advanced haptics APIs to the OpenXR consortium. It followed the signature of an advisory board agreement between the Haptics Industry Forum and Khronos on the subject of haptics for extended reality.

Haptics must be tightly integrated with the interactions in XR, so it is necessary to enable developers and content creators to have access to the best way to create haptics content at the development stage. Want to know more?

The proposal will be discussed at the OpenXR face-to-face meeting in Phoenix between October 17 and 19 2022.

Several haptics companies and experts participated in designing and developing the APIs architectures to ensure the most comprehensive compatibility range with the current most advanced haptics system for XR.

The participants were:

• Senseglove – Haptics Gloves
• Actronika – Wideband actuators haptics vests
• Interhaptics / Razer – Haptics middleware and wideband haptics headphones
• AAC Technologies – Haptics technology, actuators, and service provider
• Immersion Corporation – IP and technology provider

The architecture has been designed for full-body wearable and handheld haptics in the 3D space.

The proposed architecture is able to:

1. Deliver real-time haptics update 
2. Define the haptic target independently of the device used
3. Render different haptic perceptions 
4. Define haptics as a function of the perception, not the actuator used
5. Mix haptics on the same target
6. Deliver wideband haptics effects 

The APIs were designed to be able to process several existing haptics formats and the upcoming haptics standard.Through pre-processing, the APIs will be able to process:

Standards:

• .hjif MPEG haptics assets
• IEEE P2861.3 haptics assets

Proprietary formats:

• .AHAP assets from Apple
• .IVS assets from Immersion
• .haps assets from Interhaptics

The group looks forward to working with the Khronos XR experts to create the best API set to enable the most immersive experience ever. We will establish a tight collaboration with the Khronos Group on a bi-weekly base to reach a great proposal for everyone.

Do you want to participate in this activity? Become a HIF member

or contact us at the email at the bottom

Eric Vezzoli, XR Haptics WG Chair

eric@hapticsif.org