degrees of freedom

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

degrees of freedom
DOF

   <robotics> The number of independent parameters required to
   specify the position and orientation of an object.  Often used
   to classify {robot} arms.  For example, an arm with six
   degrees of freedom could reach any position close enough and
   could orient it's end effector (grip or tool etc.) at any
   angle about the three perpendicular axes.