Грант Имахара: Инженер, робот жасаушы және тележүргізушінің өмірі мен қызметі

American engineer, roboticist, and television host (1970–2020)

Grant Masaru Imahara (October 23, 1970 – July 13, 2020) was an American electrical engineer, roboticist, and television host. He was best known for his work on the television series MythBusters, on which he designed, built and operated numerous robots and machines to test myths over the course of the show. Imahara began his career at Lucasfilm, where he worked in the THX division as an engineer and in the Industrial Light & Magic division in visual effects. His work has been featured in films from franchises such as Star Wars, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and Terminator. His first foray into television was on the robot combat series BattleBots, for which he designed and competed with his robot Deadblow and later returned as a judge. Imahara was also a chief model maker with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on such movie projects as Galaxy Quest. In 2005, Imahara joined the cast of Mythbusters as a member of the Build Team, appearing in over 200 episodes of the series until his departure in 2014. In 2010, he designed the animatronic "robot skeleton" Geoff Peterson to serve as a sidekick on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He starred in the 2016 Netflix series White Rabbit Project alongside his MythBusters co stars Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. Imahara died on July 13, 2020, at the age of 49, after suffering a ruptured intracranial aneurysm.

Imahara was born on October 23, 1970, to a Japanese American family in Los Angeles, California. His Japanese name is (今原 真申). Imahara graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. For a time, he considered switching majors with the intention of becoming a screenwriter, but he decided to stay on the engineering track after assisting Tomlinson Holman, a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Imahara was also a live action role playing gamer, as revealed on White Rabbit Project.

After graduation, Imahara was hired as an engineer for Lucasfilm's THX division; he then moved to the company's visual effects division, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), where he worked for nine years. While at ILM, he was involved in several films, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, A. I. Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Van Helsing, and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. As an official Artoo Technician, he made a cameo appearance in the mockumentary R2 D2: Beneath the Dome. He was also credited as chief model maker for Industrial Light & Magic on such projects as "Galaxy Quest" in 1999 wherein he designed custom circuit boards to provide the lighting effects on the NSEA Protector space ship engine nacelles.

Imahara joined MythBusters on the invitation of friend and occasional employer Jamie Hyneman and former ILM colleague Linda Wolkovitch, who was an associate producer of MythBusters. He joined as the third member of the Build Team alongside Kari Byron and Tory Belleci, replacing former MythBusters welder Scottie Chapman. His colleagues often jokingly refer to him as the "geek" of the Build Team. He often built robots that were needed for the show and specialized in operating computers and electronics for testing the myths.

Imahara reunited with Byron and Belleci for the 2016 White Rabbit Project, a Netflix Original Series, in which the team investigated topics such as jailbreaks, superpower technology, heists, and bizarre World War II weapons, evaluated against a defined set of criteria and explored through experiments, builds, and tests. The complete first season of the series was released on Netflix on December 9, 2016. Despite receiving good reviews, the series was not renewed.

Imahara was engaged to his long time girlfriend, costume designer and actress Jennifer Newman since 2016. They began dating in August 2011. Imahara mentored the robotics team at Richmond High School in California while working for Lucasfilm's VFX.

Imahara died on July 13, 2020, at the age of 49, after suffering a ruptured, previously undiagnosed, intracranial aneurysm. On October 23, 2020, on what would have been his 50th birthday, the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation was announced by his mother, professional colleagues, and friends (including Mythbusters castmates Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Adam Savage). It provides mentorship, grants and scholarships to under served youth pursuing STEAM related fields. More than 80 props from Mythbusters were auctioned off to benefit the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation in August 2021. Some of those props had been built by Imahara during the more than 200 episodes that he appeared in Mythbusters between 2005 and 2014. Several months after his death, BattleBots co founder Greg Munson announced on an episode of The Adam Savage Project podcast that it had renamed its "Best Design Award" to the "Grant Imahara Award for Best Design" as a tribute to Imahara's legacy. In the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role, Imahara is honored by Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer as a non player character known as Imahara Joe. Imahara Joe is a tinkerer who helps the main characters build mechanical automaton motorbikes to achieve their goals. Mercer tweeted that Imahara was "one of the most lovely people I have ever known". Following the death of her fiancé, Jennifer Newman tweeted: "I haven't found the words. I don't know if I'll be able to. I lost a part of my heart and soul today. He was so generous and kind, so endlessly sweet and so loved by his incredible friends." She added, "I feel so lucky to have known him, to have loved & been loved by him. I love you, honey."