An adaptive controller for rigid manipulators is discussed in this paper. T
he scheme presented is applied to a two-link rigid manipulator. It takes fu
ll advantage of the known parameters of the manipulator while estimating th
e unknown parameters. In deriving the dynamic equations of motion, all the
physical parameters of the manipulator, including the distributed masses of
the links, are taken into account. The overall control system maintains th
e structure of the computed torque system with an adaptive element. The con
vergence of the control is considered in detail. A method of selecting the
best combination of the various gains is presented. Some simulation results
of the manipulator with unknown payload masses following a desired traject
ory are presented.