Degrees of freedom (mechanics)

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In physics, the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) of a mechanical system is the number of independent parameters required to completely specify its configuration or state. That number is an important property in the analysis of systems of bodies in mechanical engineering, structural engineering, aerospace engineering, robotics, and other fields. As an example, the position of a train has one degree of freedom because it can be completely specified by a single value expressing the locomotive's distance along the track. Meanwhile, a basic automobile has three DOF as its position can be defined by forward-reverse drive, side-to-side inertia, and rotation. A rigid body has at most six DOF, three of translation and three of rotation. The traditional humanoid arm can be expressed as a kinematic chain with seven DOF, consisting of the three rotation axes of both the shoulder and wrist, as well as the single axis of the elbow.

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