Purpose – Various control structures and approaches are in use nowadays. Development of new ideas allows to obtain better quality in control of different industrial processes and hence better quality of products. As it may seem that everything in the classical systems has already been discovered, more and more research centres are tending to incorporate fuzzy or neural control systems. The purpose of this paper is to present an application of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy PID speed controller for a DC drive system with a complex nonlinear mechanical part. Design/methodology/approach – The model of the driven object including such elements as nonlinear shaft with backlash and friction has been modelled using Matlab-Simulink software. Afterwards experimental verification has been made using a dSPACE control card and experimental system with two DC motors connected with an elastic shaft. Findings – The presented study shown that the adaptive controller is able to damp the torsional vibration effectively even for ...