Patent ID: 6860219

Claim:
A method for fabricating a variable-buoyancy structure in the water, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a floatable platform that is disposed in the water in a buoyant state, (i) wherein the floatable platform has a variable buoyancy that ranges from positive to negative buoyancy, (ii) wherein the floatable platform includes a plurality of forming cells surrounded by a sidewall that together form a mold for producing a variable-buoyancy structure, and (iii) wherein the variable-buoyancy structure that is formed by the mold has a plurality of structural cells corresponding to the plurality of forming cells, the structural cells having open bottoms, open interiors and inlet/outlet openings to the open interiors, (b) installing an air line system that connects the inlet/outlet openings to at least one exterior access point, wherein said inlet/outlet openings are externally controllable; (c) filling the mold with a construction material, in a liquid or semi-liquid state, so as to form the variable-buoyancy structure, with the at least one exterior access point still accessible; (d) causing the construction material to at least partially harden into a form defined by the mold; and (e) submerging the floatable platform, wherein subsequent to or concurrently with step (e), air trapped in the structural cells after closing the at least one exterior access point causes the variable-buoyancy structure to float and separate from the floatable platform.