MythBusters co-host Adam Savage recently visited Grant Imahara’s workshop to see his late friend and former co-star’s animatronic build of The Mandalorian's Grogu. Imahara was an electrical engineer and roboticist who began his career working for Industrial Light & Magic’s visual effects division. His work has featured in some of the biggest film franchises on the planet, including Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Terminator, and The Matrix. In 1999, he made his first foray in front of the camera as one of the leading competitors in the televised Battlebots series with his robot “Deadblow.”
In 2005, Imahara joined the cast of the Discovery Channel’s hit show MythBusters as a regular part of the “Build Team” alongside Kari Byron and Tory Belleci. Imahara’s tenure on the show would last for over 200 episodes, until his departure from the show in 2014. Shortly after, he starred in the Netflix series White Rabbit Project alongside his former co-stars Byron and Belleci. Tragically, Imahara passed away suddenly in July 2020 from an undiagnosed intracranial aneurysm and was mourned by family, friends and legions of fans. Later in the year, on what would have been his 50th birthday, the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation was launched in his honor with the intent of providing grants and mentorships to under-served youth seeking careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Most recently, Savage joined Imahara’s build partner Lauren Markland on his Tested Youtube channel to see how the pair managed to construct the intricately detailed Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) robot. Both Imahara and Markland had spent an intense three months constructing the robotic Grogu as a treat for kids. Marveling at the work involved and the attention to detail, including 10 hours’ worth of manual hair punching, Savage was full of nothing but praise and adoration for their work. Check out the full video from Savage’s YouTube channel below:
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When Imahara passed away last year, his death triggered a veritable flood of testimonials praising both his enormous talent and even bigger heart. The care and attention that both he and Markland put into recreating an animatronic version of the Mandalorian character for the benefit of sick children speak further to Imahara's selfless character and extraordinary gifts. Markland herself recalled that “using STEAM.. to really put a lot of whimsy into people’s lives, and that was so important to him, through these wonderful creations that we got to make.”
As Savage acknowledges, the pair’s work “is an incredible achievement” given that much of the processes they used in the build were being tested for the first time. Incorporating everything from 3D printed molds, to new ways of airbrushing silicone to give a more lifelike appearance, Imahara’s Grogu build is every inch the “masterpiece” Savage names it to be. While the world still mourns for the late MythBusters star, his work still stands as a testament to his unrivaled talent.
Source: Adam Savage