HAPPIE- Haptic Authoring Pipeline for the Production of Immersive Experiences

"The sense of touch is our physical connection to the world around us. Haptic technology recreates our sense of touch for the digital world. Haptics in the creative industries has primarily been applied as vibration in computer game feedback and in other niche industry areas (surgical training, flight simulators). As the necessity for touch in immersive experiences becomes clear, interest in haptics is rising.

""HAPPIE"" (**H**aptic **A**uthoring **P**ipeline for the **P**roduction of **I**mmersive **E**xperiences) will enable haptic content to be created faster and more efficiently and provide the software infrastructure to allow smooth and reliable content distribution.

HAPPIE will address 3 barriers to enable/accelerate haptics uptake into UK multi-£Bn creative industries.

1.Research and development of device independent haptics middleware enabling futureproof design and purchasing decisions for non-experts.

2.Research and development of device independent haptics authoring tools built on (1) to enable a new category of job ""Haptic artist"".

3.Research and development of a diverse selection of exemplar haptic demonstrations using (1) and (2) above in AR/VR/XR. To inform development and validate the outcome of (1) and (2) and to inspire the UK creative industries as to haptics' wider potential."