An approach to the robust position and velocity control of mechanical manipulators having a joint compliance is presented. A control model of such a manipulator is derived by linearizing the nonlinear equations about a desired trajectory. This control model is described by multivariable difference equations. The parameters of the model are estimated by parameter-adaptation algorithms. Control gains, determined from the control model by using the pole-placement technique, are computed online with the estimates of the system parameters. Simulation results with a two-link mechanical manipulator are presented to show the effectiveness of the approach.>