Secret Walnut Spy Camera Watches Back

Walnuts are a seriously satisfying way to get a crunch fix when the hunger pangs hit mid afternoon. Their strong shells conceal the delicious stuff within, and they disperse all over the place without anyone noticing—until now. Penguin DIY transformed that common cover into a super-sneaky camera, small enough to put into a bowl of mixed nuts and begin filming without anyone noticing.

First, Penguin DIY begins with a walnut that you would ordinarily crack open for a snack. They delicately split the shell along the natural seam and scooped out the interior to accommodate the tiny camera and equipment. Drilling tiny holes in the two halves of the shell for the magnets requires a steady hand. Four powerful magnets are glued in place on each half, and when you snap the shell shut, it snaps back into place just like a real walnut. Even up close, it appears to be just another nut in the bowl; the magnets provide a gratifying click when you close it.

Power is the tricky part in such a tight space. They begin by inserting nine tiny lithium polymer cells, approximately the size of a grain of rice, all connected together to produce a continuous 3.7 volts. They can obtain approximately an hour and a half to two hours of battery life, which is sufficient for a covert stakeout over a cup of coffee. A tiny charging port is soldered onto some wires and a board to make it extremely compact, then inserted alongside the battery pack. A USB-C plug pokes out through a tiny slot in the shell, allowing you to conveniently charge the device, and a tiny LED lights through a pinhole when you need to recharge; there’s even a tiny pinhole indicator to warn you when it’s running low. It’s all a little complicated, so be careful not to short anything out.

The camera is the actual star of the show; it’s a tiny module with its own transmitter that allows it to deliver video signals over the air. It simply nestles into the top of the shell, with the lens peeking out of a tiny hole in the shell that blends into the texture. To keep things wireless and compact, the wires are removed and replaced with a springy little pin soldered on, which presses against a unique metal plate inside when everything snaps shut. The outcome is simply a clean circuit that activates when the thing closes. The stream is sent to a basic receiver that connects to a phone, and with only a touch of static when the nut wobbles, you get live, clear video.
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