An adaptive controller for robots for driving an actuator of a robot arm under servo control where a servo constant is set such that the robot arm follows up a predetermined reference movement orbit. The controller has a switching section for switching between an adjustment mode where the servo constant is adjusted and a servo control mode where the servo constant is already set. Also included is a deviation supervising section for which obtains the deviation of an actual operation orbit of the robot arm from the reference movement orbit thereof, and operates the switching section to change the servo control mode into the servo adjustment mode when the obtained deviation exceeds a predetermined value. The controller also has a dynamic-characteristic-model identifying section for identifying the movement characteristic of the robot arm when the servo control mode is changed into the servo adjustment mode by the deviation supervising section and the switching section. A servo constant calculating section is used for calculating a new servo constant for reducing the deviation obtained by the deviation supervising section based on the identification result from the dynamic-characteristic-identifying section.