In a positioning apparatus for an actuator, a sliding mode controller for compensating for nonlinear characteristics of a wave gear device of the actuator generates a control input u to a controlled object, based on a position command θ1* and a state variable x for expressing the controlled object. The controlled object is defined in the following formula.
{dot over (x)}=Ax+Bu+Eθl*
y=Cx
The switching surfaces of the sliding mode control system are defined by a variable S expressed in the following formula.
S=BTP
The control input u is the sum of the linear-state feedback control term ul and the nonlinear control input unl
where σ is the switching function, and k is the switching gain.