Vehicle for installing anchors in an underwater substrate

A method of installing one or more anchors in an underwater substrate in a body of water, the method comprising:

• coupling a helical anchor with an anchor installation vehicle, the anchor installation vehicle including:
• a vehicle frame having a top end and bottom end,
• four linear arms extending outward from the vehicle frame,
• one or more rotational thrusters disposed at distal ends of the respective arms,
• one or more flotation tanks disposed on the vehicle frame,
• an electronic system,
• a plurality of vertical thrusters,
• an anchor system that holds the helical anchor extending from the bottom end of the vehicle frame and aligned with a central axis Y that is perpendicular to the four linear arms,
• a tether coupled at the top end of the vehicle frame via a slip ring tether attachment that is coincident with the central axis Y, the tether coupled with and configured to communicate data with a support vessel ship floating on the body of water, the tether further configured to provide electrical power from the support vessel ship to the anchor installation vehicle,
• a top camera coupled at the top end of the vehicle frame operably connected to the electronic system,
• a bottom camera coupled at the bottom end of the vehicle frame operably connected to the electronic system, and
• a torque sensor operably connected to the electronic system;
• driving the anchor installation vehicle in the body of water via the rotational thrusters and vertical thrusters, based at least in part on a first set of instructions received via the tether from a support computer system of the support vessel ship, to an anchor installation location on the underwater substrate in the body of water including a location on a seabed in the body of water;
• driving the anchor installation vehicle in the body of water, based at least in part on a second set of instructions received via the tether from the support computer system of the support vessel ship, to engage a helical head of the helical anchor with the seabed at the anchor installation location;
• rotating the anchor installation vehicle via the rotational thrusters about the central axis Y to drive the helical anchor downward into the seabed at the anchor installation location while maintaining a substantially consistent orientation of the central axis Y relative to a plane of the seabed at the anchor installation location;
• determining that installation of the helical anchor is complete and stopping rotation of the anchor installation vehicle about the central axis Y;
• and
• disengaging the anchor system from the helical anchor to release the helical anchor.