Methods for automated ply boundary marking

A method, comprising:

• laying down a plurality of fiber tows, wherein the laying down the plurality of fiber tows is performed via an automated lamination machine, wherein each respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows comprises a respective cut end, and wherein the plurality of fiber tows are pre-impregnated with un-cured resin;
• applying at least one marking within at least one marked region of each respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows, wherein at least a first portion of the at least one marking is configured to provide location information about the respective fiber tow on which the at least one marking is placed, wherein the applying the at least one marking comprises applying a contrasting color onto each respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows, wherein the contrasting color is configured to contrast with a color of the fiber tows such that the at least one marking is configured to enable visual inspection of the plurality of fiber tows, wherein the applying the at least one marking is performed automatically by the automated lamination machine during the laying down the plurality of fiber tows, and wherein at least a second portion of the at least one marking comprises a visual cue configured to be recognized by a camera system, a computer vision system, and/or an AI image analysis system;
• cuing the camera system, the computer vision system, and/or the AI image analysis system via the visual cue, thereby triggering the camera system, the computer vision system, and/or the AI image analysis system to visually inspect the respective fiber tow on which the visual cue is placed;
• and
• visually inspecting the plurality of fiber tows by examining or analyzing the marking of each respective fiber tow to identify a respective location of each respective cut end of each of the plurality of fiber tows, wherein the visually inspecting is performed as the automated lamination machine lays down each respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows, such that the visually inspecting comprises determining a gap between a first respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows and a previously-placed respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows before a subsequently-placed respective fiber tow of the plurality of fiber tows is placed.