An adaptive PID sliding mode controller is proposed for the position control of electro-hydrostatic actuator(EHA) systems with system uncertainties and saturation in the motor. An EHA prototype is developed and system modeling and parameter identification are executed. Then, adaptive PID sliding mode controller and optimal anti-windup PID controller are designed and the performance and robustness of the two control systems are compared by experiment. It was found that the adaptive PID sliding mode control system has better performance and is more robust to system uncertainties than the optimal anti-windup PID control system.