In this article, the tracking problem of the adaptive sliding-mode control (SMC) design for human support robots based on a disturbance observer is investigated. First, a finite-time controller using nonsingular fast terminal SMC is proposed. Then, a robust disturbance observer is developed to estimate system uncertainties and disturbances. Simultaneously, to deal with the unknown bounded disturbance observer error, an adaptive control technology is developed. Furthermore, the proposed controller is synthesized to ensure that the tracking errors can be stabilized in finite time. Finally, simulations are performed to demonstrate that human support robots employing the proposed controller can converge to the desired trajectory.