A cooperative differential drive system (20) for use in material handling and flight control and guidance systems, and the like. The drive system (20) may be employed in application that require high resolution task repeatability capabilities and the execution of precise position and force trajectory path following routines. A differential gear system (24) is driven by two servo-controlled actuators (22, 23) under control of a controller (21). The first actuator (22) is regulated at constant speed while the second actuator (23) is modulated at an appropriately varying speed to achieve a desired drive speed of a load. The second actuator (23) is controlled such that it dos not change rotational direction. Ultimate control of the load is achieved by way of the differential gear system (24) that combines the two actuator speeds to achieve the desired load speed. The differential gear system (24) is optionally coupled by way of a clutch system (25) to the load. The clutch system (25) is engaged after both actuators (22, 23) have reached their nominal operating speeds, thus eliminating actuator start-up problems. Both actuators (22, 23) are kept in constant motion so that they do not operate near their dead-zone region, thus eliminating nonlinearity problems.