In a 2008 Machine Design interview, Grant Imahara said, “I couldn’t imagine my life without engineering.”
Imahara, who was an engineer and robotics builder for 10 seasons on the Discovery Channel TV series “MythBusters,” and also worked on the Netflix series “White Rabbit Project,” died July 13 of a brain aneurysm at age 49.
Imahara graduated from USC with a degree in electrical engineering but also had interest in becoming a screenwriter. Those two careers merged when he worked after college at Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects company that was part of George Lucas’ film company. Imahara worked on movies in the “Star Wars” and “Matrix” franchises, as well as “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.”
“MythBusters” brought his work in front of the camera, where he worked with the show’s Build Team on robotics and other electronics needed to test theories, popular beliefs or other “myths” through a scientific method.
In the 2008 interview with Machine Design, Imahara was asked what he liked to do the least. “Make sacrifices for the sake of time or money,” he said, “but that is something you’ll have to face regardless of whether you’re an engineer, artist, or a TV personality.”
The link to the full interview with Imahara is here.