Torque on Conventional Cubes

[BuildingBots]

Hello,
I am a student doing a robotics project, you guessed it, a Rubik's cube solver!

The device will user linear solenoids to press grasping claws, rotated by steppers or servos, onto the cube faces.

Two questions:
-Does anyone know the torque required to turn the face of a standard Rubik's cube?
-Would you advise using a speed cube instead? Do you know the torque requirements for any specific models?

The project is mostly hardware oriented so if you have suggestions for software(probably run from a Raspberry-Pi 3) feel free to let me know.

Thank you!

 

[ImmolatedMarmoset]

Hello,
I am a student doing a robotics project, you guessed it, a Rubik's cube solver!

The device will user linear solenoids to press grasping claws, rotated by steppers or servos, onto the cube faces.

Two questions:
-Does anyone know the torque required to turn the face of a standard Rubik's cube?
-Would you advise using a speed cube instead? Do you know the torque requirements for any specific models?

The project is mostly hardware oriented so if you have suggestions for software(probably run from a Raspberry-Pi 3) feel free to let me know.

Thank you!

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you too much about the torque, but I can say that the force required to turn a Rubik’s Cube would be much more inconsistent across each of the faces. For this reason I would go with a speedcube of some sort to ensure that the torque required would be more even. Also, modern speedcubes have a way of adjusting the tensions on individual sides, which might affect the torque.

Good luck in your project!

 

[SenorJuan]

Well you've made me do a quick experiment.
A speedcube, set up to be sticky/not-that-fast, ( for one-handed solving ), required a torque of 0.05 Nm to turn it.

You should be able to set up any reasonable speedcube to require 0.02 Nm, easily, with suitable tension adjustment / lubricant.
I recommend using a speedcube, there are many budget-priced ones that will be well suited to your project.