Position controlled industrial robots are used for trajectory tracking with fast and precise motion. The modelling and control technique in such a case depends on manipulator structure, material, servo control and inertial force. This paper proposes a scheme of fractional order modelling of a two-link manipulator (TLM) system with non-linearities, parametric uncertainties and disturbances, in joint space. A newly developed
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adaptive control (
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AC) strategy is modified by introducing a fractional-order predictor and fractional order adaptation laws to achieve desired variations of joint angles of the TLM. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that the proposed FO-
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AC scheme works in synchronism with the FOTLM system to deal with the non-linearities, parametric uncertainties and disturbances during real-life experimentation. The stability of the overall close loop system is precisely guaranteed utilizing the Lyapunov theory, and all the closed-loop variables are bounded employing
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norm-based conditions. Real-life experimental studies demonstrate the superiority of the proposed control strategy.