This page documents our team's use of AI (GitHub Copilot CLI, powered by Claude) as a tool to help with team operations. Per FTC rules (A201), AI usage must be credited. This log records all prompts given and a summary of what the AI did.

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"This is a github pages site. Can you install the necessary software so that I can preview it locally?"

Installed Ruby 3.3.10 with DevKit, ran bundle install, verified Jekyll build. Site previews at localhost:4000 with bundle exec jekyll serve.

"The homeschool robotics team decided that their team name should be Robo Gators of the Lost Park. Update the site to reflect this. Use the logo I added to the images folder."

Updated index.md, about.md, and fll.md with the new FLL homeschool team name, logo, and descriptions.

"Can you edit videos for me? For example combine several videos and put transitions between them? How would you do that?"

Explained video editing capabilities using FFmpeg. Created videos/ directory and added it to .gitignore.

"Can you create a videos folder that I can put the videos in and add it to .gitignore so they don't get checked in?"

Created the videos/ folder and added it to .gitignore.

"How well can you inspect the videos to see what's in them?"

Explained capabilities for inspecting video files — metadata extraction, frame extraction with FFmpeg, and limitations on directly viewing video content.

"Could you extract images from the video at different points to help understand it?"

Extracted thumbnail frames from videos using FFmpeg to help identify their content.

"Yes, go ahead and install it."

Installed FFmpeg via winget.

"I've restarted the terminal so you should be able to run ffmpeg directly now."

Confirmed FFmpeg was working and began using it for video analysis.

"OK, we're in plan mode now. Don't actually do any video editing until I tell you, instead we're going to inspect the videos and create a plan for what the result should be. I've dropped a bunch of videos and images in the folder. First, I'd like you to try to identify what is in each one. Most of them are match videos. You can get the match list from https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/2025/USARLRAS/qualifications. You should probably be able to use the metadata on the videos to figure out what the order is. The score screen should show up in most of the videos in back of the field, so you should be able to find that to figure out which teams are playing. There is also one video (probably the first one) which is a demonstration of the judging interview."

Fetched match schedule from FTC events website. Identified all 15 videos by extracting frames and correlating iOS UTC timestamps to match times (EST). Stored match data in SQL tables. Created a detailed video editing plan for three videos: qualifications (team 32314's matches), playoffs (Finals 1-3), and other qualifications (matches without team 32314).

"Update the plan: This scrimmage was on March 1, 2026. Pull match data from https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/2025/USARLRAS (or the details pages)."

Fixed the date to March 1, 2026. Pulled detailed match data including scores, team assignments, and score breakdowns from the FTC events pages.

"Remove the alliance selection from the video. After each match, add a 5 second section showing the detailed match results."

Updated the video plan to exclude the alliance selection clip and add 5-second scorecard images after every match.

"Add a scorecard for match 4 even though we didn't get a video of it."

Added Q4 as a scorecard-only segment in the qualifications video since we didn't record that match.

"Is it possible to generate scorecards that look similar to what the FTC event system shows on screen during the event after the matches?"

Researched and proposed 3 methods: (1) Pillow-based image generation, (2) HTML/CSS template rendered with a headless browser, and (3) direct screenshot of the FTC events website via Playwright.

"Can you generate an image using method 1 so I can see what it would look like? Keep the script too so if we go that way you already have it."

Created generate_scorecard.py using Pillow to generate scorecard images with match details, scores, and layout mimicking the FTC event system.

"Can you show the ranking points? Can you get the trophy and ranking point icons by cropping them from a frame of the video?"

Added ranking point icons using Font Awesome font glyphs. Extracted and cropped reference icons from video frames.

"Can you generate a sample image?"

Generated an updated sample scorecard image with ranking points displayed.

"It's getting better. But did you say you could match the style exactly using a headless browser?"

Pivoted to Playwright-based approach: screenshots the actual FTC events website, applies JavaScript cleanup (removes navigation, cookie banners, fixes scrolling team names), crops the content, and composites it onto a blue gradient background at 1920×1080. Iterated through 15 versions to match the look exactly.

"Yes. Can you also create a skill for creating the scorecard images so I can reuse it later?"

Created a Copilot skill at .github/skills/ftc-scorecard-generator/ with SKILL.md instructions and the standalone generate_scorecard.py script for reuse.

"Can you create the skill in this repo instead of in my home folder?"

Moved the skill files from the home directory to the project repo at .github/skills/ftc-scorecard-generator/.

"Let's create another video with the qualification matches that we weren't part of. That way other teams can see their matches if they want."

Added a third video to the plan: "Other Qualifications" containing Q2, Q3, Q6, Q8, Q10 — the 5 matches team 32314 wasn't in, so other teams can see their matches too.

"Go ahead and update the script now"

Created render_videos.py with the full FFmpeg pipeline for all 3 videos, including Pillow-generated title cards and text overlays, scorecard images, and crossfade transitions between segments.

"Do the results for each match need to be rendered in the plan? That seems to clutter it a bit."

Simplified the plan to remove detailed per-match score breakdowns that were cluttering it.

"What's the next step?"

Identified the next steps in the rendering pipeline and continued with video rendering.

"Don't trim the videos, they are already trimmed. Use the full team name in titles. Keep original audio."

Updated render script: removed trimming logic, changed title cards to use full team name "Marcus Bartholomew the Third Senior", kept original audio with no background music added.

(Rendering completed)

Rendered all 3 videos successfully: qualifications.mp4 (11m 10s, 795 MB), other_qualifications.mp4 (13m 9s, 946 MB), playoffs.mp4 (8m 24s, 603 MB). All H.264 CRF 18, 1920×1080, 30fps, ready for YouTube.

"How much did this cost?"

Explained that billing/cost data isn't directly accessible — check GitHub account billing dashboard.

"How much would this cost: Breakdown by AI model: claude-opus-4.6 11.5m in, 49.3k out, 10.5m cached (Est. 24 Premium requests)"

Calculated the equivalent API cost. Initially used wrong pricing (old Opus 4 rates).

"Can you look at the pricing at https://claude.com/pricing#api and make sure your numbers are correct?"

Fetched current Claude Opus 4.6 pricing and corrected the calculation to ~$11.48 total ($5/MTok input, $0.50/MTok cached, $25/MTok output). Caching saved significantly.

"I think we're done with that plan. Let's start a new one."

Started a new plan for updating the website with scrimmage content.

(After discussion about what to include)

Added scrimmage champions highlight box to home page (after FLL highlight), replaced "Watch Us in Action" video with playoff video, added Competitions section to FTC page with embedded playoff video and links to both YouTube videos.

"We finished second in the qualification matches out of 8 teams (not first). Put the playoff video before the description, then after the description link to (instead of embedding) both videos."

Fixed ranking to 2nd place, restructured the scrimmage section: embedded playoff video first, description second, then YouTube links to both videos instead of double-embedding.

"Could you try to make a new, improved version of the Marcus Bartholomew the Third Senior logo? The elements we added to the logo from the Junior logo don't really stand out too much, maybe that could be improved. You can start with the Junior logo if necessary."

Attempted to create an improved logo using Pillow: analyzed the circle geometry, replaced "JUNIOR" curved text with "SENIOR" on the bottom arc, added bolder accessories (top hat, monocle, mustache, bow tie, cane). Work paused for later — the hat positioning still needed adjustment.

"Can you create a version of the FTC team logo to use as the avatar in the FTC event system? It should be a 40 by 40 png. See here for more: https://community.firstinspires.org/team-avatars"

Fetched avatar requirements from FIRST community page (40×40 PNG, max 20 kB, transparency allowed). Created avatar by cropping the inner circle of the team logo with navy border ring. Saved as 4.3 kB PNG.

"Is it possible to make the logo less blurry when it's resized?"

Tried sharpening (UnsharpMask), contrast boost, and two-step resize approaches. User preferred original — sharpening added artifacts that looked worse at 40×40 size.

"Let's switch to the team's wiki which is checked out in C:\git\ftc-decode.wiki"

Switched working directory to the team's wiki repository.

"Let's create new pages to start planning the team's judging presentation and portfolio. Refer to the wiki content as well as the team's web page we were working on before to help find content. Search the web to find advice for how to create the presentation script and the portfolio. Summarize what you find so we can see the results. Refer to the FTC rules for this season (decode) to help as well. The HTML version will probably be better for you than the PDF version. Section 6.3 of the rules is especially relevant as it describes the different awards and requirements for them. ALSO: Create a new page with a record of our interaction with you. Record all the prompts we give you, as well as a short summary of your response or what you did. We will be targeting the control and think awards, as well as hoping to cover some of the team attributes awards well enough to have some chance at the inspire award."

Researched FTC Competition Manual Section 6.3 (award criteria for Control, Think, Inspire, and all other awards). Searched the web for judging presentation and portfolio best practices. Read all existing wiki pages and the team's website to inventory existing content. Created three new wiki pages: Judging Presentation (script outline, Q&A prep), Portfolio Planning (15-page structure mapped to award criteria), and this AI Interaction Log. Updated Home.md with links to new pages.

"What was the new insight you mentioned?"

Clarified it was confirming the user's own observation — the team's documented control systems map very well to the Control Award criteria. Not a new suggestion, just validation.

"Can you update the AI interaction log so that it includes the full prompts? The responses can still be summarized. A table may not be the best way to organize it, perhaps the prompts should come first (perhaps bolded) and the response second (maybe quoted or something? I'm not sure.)"

Rewrote this page with full prompts in bold and response summaries in blockquotes.

"Can you create an AGENT.md file (or whatever is the correct file) to direct agents to record AI interactions in the interaction log?"

Created AGENT.md in the wiki repo with instructions for AI agents to append new entries to the AI Interaction Log page whenever they assist the team.

"Team members: Lucas is the main programmer and driver. Lesly focused mostly on building. Matthew did videos and video editing. Josephine joined recently and has been practicing driving and helping with outreach, and will probably help with the portfolio too. Caleb is also on an FLL team so he's been mostly focusing on that, but has been learning about FTC to fully join next year. We also had two other members who dropped out after realizing they needed to focus more on school (they were in 9th grade and got hit a bit hard by high school expectations)."

Updated Team-Roles.md with current roster (Lucas, Lesly, Matthew, Josephine, Caleb) and removed former members. Updated Judging-Presentation.md with speaking assignments matching members to their strengths. Updated Portfolio-Planning.md page 1 description with current team member details.

"For the sustain award, we should categorize all of our expenses (are they recurring per year or one-time or what?). We should also have data for what the income was for the past 3 years from Microsoft hours matching as well as for donations. We may want to highlight how much money the FLL team was able to raise when they needed it to travel to an invitational tournament."

Created Financial-Summary.md with templates for expense categories (recurring vs one-time), 3 years of income data (Microsoft matching + donations), and FLL fundraising highlight section. Linked it from Portfolio-Planning.md and Home.md. Data to be filled in later.

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"/init"

Analyzed the wiki repository structure and created .github/copilot-instructions.md with context about the repo, AI interaction log requirements, FTC manual references, wiki conventions, and portfolio generation instructions. Merged content from the existing AGENT.md file.

"Do we need both copilot-instructions and AGENT.md?"

Confirmed they serve the same purpose. Deleted AGENT.md and consolidated all instructions into .github/copilot-instructions.md.

"We have the beginnings of a few sections so far: Portfolio Think Award, Portfolio Reach Award, Portfolio Control Award. Those pages may include things that shouldn't go in the portfolio (for example the award requirements from the manual for reference). How should we handle that?"

Implemented <!-- portfolio-start --> and <!-- portfolio-end --> HTML comment markers in wiki pages to separate portfolio content from reference notes. The generator extracts only marked sections.

"What would it look like if we do it with Pandoc?"

Compared Pandoc vs Python+Playwright approaches. Chose Python+Playwright since Playwright was already installed. Created generate_portfolio.py using Python's markdown library for HTML conversion and Playwright for PDF rendering.

"The strikethrough in the think award didn't render correctly in the PDF. Would Pandoc fix that? Or how should we handle that?"

Installed pymdown-extensions package and added the pymdownx.tilde extension to enable ~~strikethrough~~ rendering in the Markdown-to-HTML conversion.

"Let's put the team number in the portfolio file name. Let's also fix the header levels. H1 should be for the different awards. Subsections should use H2 or higher."

Renamed output to ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf. Demoted subsections from H1 to H2 across portfolio pages and added H1 award titles.

"I can't really tell the difference between the different header levels in the PDF. Is that a styling thing or what?"

Updated CSS styling: H1 → 22pt blue with underline, H2 → 14pt black, H3 → 12pt gray italic. This made the header hierarchy visually distinct.

"Would it make sense for the CSS to be in a separate file instead of in the python script?"

Extracted the inline CSS to a separate portfolio.css file. Updated generate_portfolio.py to read from it.

"Let's create a cover page. It should have our team number, name, logo, and a picture of the robot. You should be able to get them from our website repo here: D:\git\robotics\wccarobotics.github.io"

Found team logo and robot photo in the website repo. Copied them to images/. Created Portfolio-Cover.md with HTML layout for the cover page. Fixed image loading by switching from page.set_content() to page.goto() with file URI.

"There's an empty page after the cover page"

Fixed blank page caused by height: 100vh overflowing to a second page. Changed to min-height: 9in.

"I'm still seeing a blank page"

Further adjusted cover page CSS to eliminate the blank page overflow.

"Should we have page numbers?"

Added page numbers using Playwright's display_header_footer with a footer template showing page numbers.

"Process the images in C:\Users\Daniel\OneDrive\OneDrive camera roll\2026\04, starting with 20260409_124043307_iOS.heic and including all the newer images. For each one, convert it to JPEG, resize it down to a good size for the portfolio, and save it in D:\git\robotics\ftc-decode.wiki\images\robot"

Installed pillow-heif. Converted 29 HEIC images to JPEG at max 1200px dimension, quality 85, with EXIF auto-rotation. Saved to images/robot/.

"Let's use this picture for our portfolio cover page: 20260409_124135422_iOS.jpg. Crop it and put the result in images/"

Cropped the selected photo to focus on the robot and saved as images/robot-cover.jpg. Updated Portfolio-Cover.md to reference it.

"Let's rename the portfolio file to ftc-decode-portfolio-32314"

Updated OUTPUT_FILE in generate_portfolio.py and .gitignore to use the new filename.

"Let's update the wiki home to have a section with links to all the pages that make up the portfolio."

Added a "Portfolio Pages" section to Home.md with links to all portfolio-related wiki pages.

"Let's try to add pictures of our robot mechanisms to the portfolio. Use the pictures in D:\git\robotics\ftc-decode.wiki\images\robot. Try to identify which ones would be good for demonstrating the various robot mechanisms."

Reviewed all 29 robot photos to identify mechanisms. Selected 6 best photos covering all key hardware systems. Created annotate_photos.py script that crops, resizes, and adds labeled annotations (gold labels, lines, target circles) using Pillow. Generated 6 annotated images:

1. robot-front-annotated.jpg — Front overview (Limelight, Hubs, Intake, Mecanum wheels)
2. dual-flywheels-annotated.jpg — Inside dual flywheel launcher
3. intake-annotated.jpg — Intake rollers, chain drive, diverter, ball path
4. lights-odometry-annotated.jpg — Indicator lights, Pinpoint odometry, battery
5. electronics-limelight-annotated.jpg — Top-down electronics overview
6. color-sensor-annotated.jpg — Color sensor LED, intake motor/wheels

Added image references to Portfolio-Think-Award.md and Portfolio-Control-Award.md. Fixed spacing issues in Control Award text. Final PDF: 10 pages (1 cover + 9 content), 1.8 MB — well within limits.

"You don't seem to be following the AI interaction log instructions. Can you fix that and try to add what you missed?"

Added all missing entries from this session to the AI Interaction Log (this entry and all above in this section).

"Let's go through each picture, starting with robot-front-annotated..." (multiple rounds of feedback)

Iteratively refined all 6 annotated robot photos based on the user marking target positions with red squares on the images. Key changes across all photos:

• robot-front-annotated: Removed hub labels. Added Flywheels, Launch Ramps (2 targets each), Googly Eyes (2 targets). Fixed Mecanum Wheels and Intake Rollers targets. Renamed "Intake Roller" to "Intake Rollers."
• launcher-topdown-annotated (renamed from electronics-limelight): Removed Limelight and hub labels. Added Launch Ramps, Flywheels, and Feeder Servos labels with 2 targets each. Repositioned Flywheels label to avoid line crossings.
• intake-annotated: Removed Ball label. Renamed "Diverter" to "Intake Bootkicker." Moved all targets to user-marked positions.
• dual-flywheels-annotated: Replaced all labels. Added Flywheel Motors, Flywheels, Intake Bootkickers, Feeder Bootkicker, and Diverter. Removed Center Divider.
• lights-odometry-annotated: Added 3 targets for Indicator Lights (one per light). Renamed "Pinpoint Odometry" to "Power Switch." Removed Mecanum Wheels.
• color-sensor-annotated: Replaced all labels with Intake Motor, Intake Wheels, Front Color Sensor, and Diverter based on user's red drawings.

Also improved draw_label(): fixed inconsistent box margins by using actual text bbox, and made multi-target lines originate from a shared start point.

"Add the Connect award page to the table of contents and to the script which generates the portfolio."

Added Portfolio-Connect-Award.md to PORTFOLIO_PAGES in generate_portfolio.py and to the Portfolio Pages section in Home.md. Added <!-- portfolio-start --> marker to exclude award criteria reference section.

"Could we use GitHub-flavored Markdown?"

Switched from Python markdown library to markdown-it-py with "gfm-like" preset. Lists without blank lines, strikethrough, and tables all work natively now without needing pymdown-extensions or extra blank lines.

"Generate the portfolio"

Installed missing Python dependencies (markdown, playwright, pymdown-extensions) and Playwright Chromium browser. Ran generate_portfolio.py successfully, producing ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf with Cover, Think, Control, and Reach award pages.

"Generate portfolio"

Ran generate_portfolio.py to regenerate ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf with the latest wiki content.

"Regenerate the PDF"

Installed linkify-it-py (required after the switch to markdown-it-py) and regenerated ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf with updated content including the new Connect award page.

"Regenerate portfolio"

Ran generate_portfolio.py to regenerate ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf with the latest wiki content.

"generate the PDF"

Ran generate_portfolio.py to regenerate ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf.

"Can you make the pictures a bit smaller so that two of them can fit on page 6?"

Reduced image max-height from 4in to 3in in portfolio.css and regenerated the PDF so two images can fit on a single page.

"Regenerate PDF"

Ran generate_portfolio.py to regenerate ftc-decode-portfolio-32314.pdf.

"The shootAll diagram seems small. Can you make it so that it spans the full page width?"

Added a CSS rule in portfolio.css targeting img[src*="shootall-diagram"] to remove the max-height cap and set full width. Regenerated the PDF.

"Let's make robot-front-annotated wide too"

Added robot-front-annotated to the full-width CSS rule alongside shootall-diagram in portfolio.css. Regenerated the PDF.

"Update AI note to also include Google Gemini as an AI that was used."

Added Google Gemini to the AI Tools & Credits section in AI-Interaction-Log.md and updated the portfolio endnote in generate_portfolio.py to credit both GitHub Copilot (Claude) and Google Gemini.

"I don't think each top-level section necessarily needs to start on a new page. That can potentially waste a lot of space."

Removed forced page breaks between Control, Connect, and Reach award sections in generate_portfolio.py so content flows continuously. Only the cover page and Think Award retain page breaks.

"Add the Sustain award content to the portfolio"

Uncommented Portfolio-Sustain-Award.md in PORTFOLIO_PAGES in generate_portfolio.py and regenerated the PDF. Portfolio now includes all 6 sections.

"Generate portfolio version 1.0"

Ran generate_portfolio.py --version 1.0 to produce ftc-decode-portfolio-32314-v1.0.pdf.

"Regenerate version 1.0"

Regenerated ftc-decode-portfolio-32314-v1.0.pdf with latest content.

"Let's put a page break before the Dual Shooter and the Color / Distance sensor headings"

Added <div class="page-break"></div> before the Dual Shooter and Color / Distance Sensors headings in Portfolio-Control-Award.md. Regenerated the v1.0 PDF.

"Let's also add a page break before the robot in 3 days header"

Added <div class="page-break"></div> before the "Robot in 3 Days 6 Weeks" heading in Portfolio-Think-Award.md. Regenerated the v1.0 PDF.

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• Tools: GitHub Copilot CLI (powered by Claude Opus 4.6), Google Gemini
• Usage: Website development, video editing automation (FFmpeg scripting), image generation & annotation (Pillow, Playwright), portfolio PDF generation, research, documentation
• Credit line for portfolio: "Team wiki pages and website content created with assistance from GitHub Copilot (Claude) and Google Gemini. Portfolio PDF generated with a Copilot-written Python script using Playwright. Robot mechanism photos annotated with Pillow scripts. Video scorecards generated using Playwright browser screenshots. Video assembly automated with FFmpeg scripts written by Copilot."