Sliding mode control(SMC) incorporated with perturbation compensation is developed here to reduce the low-frequency tracking error in the presence of wide-band frequency perturbations for a nonlinear dynamic system. The control scheme is then applied to the motion control of a two-degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel manipulator, utilizing its reduced dynamics for real-time implementation. It is shown that the SMC with perturbation compensation is far superior to the conventional SMC in tracking control of the manipulator under large payload and external disturbance conditions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.