AbstractThis paper proposes an adaptive control scheme with finite‐time convergent property based on integral sliding mode to achieve trajectory tracking control of rigid robotic manipulators. The novel adaptive gain can be adjusted automatically with the system disturbance, as long as the disturbance and its derivative are bounded without requiring more information. Therefore, the control chattering effect can be mitigated obviously. The global robustness of system is guaranteed by Lyapunov stability analysis. Finally, the simulation of a two‐link manipulator is given to show that the desired trajectory tracking performance is obtained with the proposed adaptive sliding mode approach.