However, the HQ approach is more appropriate for the isolated study of control strategies. Writing a successful RoboCup client program requires a significant investment of time attending to low-level details. Finally, RoboCup does not give a learning program time to learn about its contestants before it is rated in a tournament. HQ allows programs to learn from practice games with contestant programs before they are rated. It is an environment for testing robot control strategies using the domain of auto racing.
Pieces have a restricted view of the race track and other pieces.
Like Robocup , there is limited communication between pieces. In fact, it is discouraged. There are no time restrictions on the contestant programs. Of particular interest is the allowance for learning contestants. Each contestant can read and write to a data file.