Summary This article presents a control scheme for flexible joint robots which has uncertain parameters based on adaptive fuzzy compensation. Considering the unknown parameters, the proposed state feedback control approach utilizes measured variables to establish a cascade structure that is based on simplified dynamics. After reducing the number of fuzzy rules, the adaptive fuzzy logic system is added as compensation to decrease the approximated errors, and the robust terms are also used to enhance the robustness of closed‐loop system. Then, the global asymptotic stability could be confirmed through Lyapunov stability principle and Barbalat's lemma. Compared with the other two controllers, the proposed control method has not only higher position accuracy and better dynamic performance but also robustness to the approximation of motor inertia, friction torque and link torque. Some simulation experiments are conducted to show the validity of the proposed scheme.