SUMMARYThe application of the joint force sensory feedback in both the gross and fine motion control of manipulation robots is considered in the paper. One of the objectives of the paper is to give a historical overview how the idea of the joint force sensory feedback has appeared and developed in the past two decades. The control schemes, which include joint torque sensory feedback, are surveyed in the paper. The main advantages of this approach are discussed: the joint torque feedback offers an elegant way to compensate for the effects of the robot dynamics without real time computation of the robot dynamics, the control schemes are robust in respect of parameter variations. Various problems regarding design and implementation of joint torque sensor are also considered. Special emphasis is given to the application of this approach in hybrid position/force control schemes.