In this paper, a robust nonlinear proportional–integral–derivative (PID)-like fuzzy control scheme is presented and applied to complex trajectory tracking control of a 2PRP-PPR (P-prismatic, R-revolute) planar parallel manipulator (motion platform) with three degrees-of-freedom (DOF) in the presence of parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed control law consists of mainly two parts: first part uses a feed forward term to enhance the control activity and estimated perturbed term to compensate for the unknown effects namely external disturbances and unmodeled dynamics, and the second part uses a PID-like fuzzy logic control as a feedback portion to enhance the overall closed-loop stability of the system. Experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. © 2016 ISA