Thanks! Here are my thoughts on your questions:

1. If I let the bot automate some of the processes such as liking other pictures, am I not allowed to comment or manually like other pictures during the process? Will that get me banned? Yes, you shouldn’t do too much liking or commenting on your own if you’re already automating this interactions. It won't get you banned, but it’s more likely that you’ll hit your interactions total quicker and you’ll get blocked from being able to interact in that hour (or day._
2. Let’s say I only automate liking specific hash tags on Instazood, will Instagram ban me if I commented and like other people’s picture as well ESPECIALLY if I am in instagram “pod”? No, you wont get banned. Instagram doesn’t usually ban people to automation unless you’re doing it at a massive scale (which you wont).
3. If everything is being automated, what can I do during the meantime besides posting to gain followers or increase my engagement activity? Everything except liking or commenting (if you’re automating those interactions).

Hope that helps!