Based on a combination of a PD controller and a switching type two-parameter compensation force, an iterative learning controller with a projection-free adaptive algorithm is presented in this paper for repetitive control of uncertain robot manipulators. The adaptive iterative learning controller is designed without any a priori knowledge of robot parameters under certain properties on the dynamics of robot manipulators with revolute joints only. This new adaptive algorithm uses a combined time-domain and iteration-domain adaptation law allowing to guarantee the boundedness of the tracking error and the control input, in the sense of the infinity norm, as well as the convergence of the tracking error to zero, without any a priori knowledge of robot parameters. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the learning controller. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.