This paper addresses the tracking control problem of robotic
manipulators with unknown and changing dynamics. In this study, nonlinear
dynamics of the robotic manipulator is assumed to be unknown and a control
scheme is developed to adaptively estimate the unknown manipulator dynamics
utilizing generic artificial neural network models to approximate the underlying
dynamics. Based on the error dynamics of the controller, a parameter update
equation is derived for the adaptive ANN models and local stability properties
of the controller are discussed. The proposed scheme is simulated and
successfully tested for trajectory following tasks. The controller also
demonstrates remarkable performance in adaptation to changes in manipulator
dynamics.