Lucasfilm and MythBusters roboticist Grant Imahara has passed away

Enlarge / Imahara at w00tstock in 2012. (credit: uncle_shoggoth)

Grant Imahara, a roboticist and electrical engineer whose work appeared in films and TV series such as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, The Matrix Reloaded, and MythBusters, died suddenly on Monday following a brain aneurysm. He was 49 years old.

Imahara worked for years at storied special-effects firm Industrial Light and Magic, where he worked on films such as A.I: Artificial Intelligence, Galaxy Quest, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the two sequels to The Matrix, and George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy. On the last of those, he was responsible for restoring and recreating the iconic R2D2 robot for the new films. Imahara also created Geoff Petersen, the comedic robot co-host from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

But he is probably best-known to most people as a member of the build team on MythBusters for many years, with co-hosts Tory Belleci and Kari Byron. On the show, Imahara was often portrayed as the geek of the group as he worked on robots and computers related to the myths that were tested over the course of the series. He was an infectiously positive personality on screen and was beloved by fans.

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