In this paper, an optimal adaptive robust PID controller based on fuzzy rules and sliding modes is introduced to present a general scheme to control MIMO uncertain chaotic nonlinear systems. In this control scheme, the gains of the PID controller are updated by using an adaptive mechanism, fuzzy rules, the gradient search method, and the chain rule of differentiation in order to minimize the sliding surfaces of sliding mode control. More precisely, sliding mode control is used as a supervisory controller to provide sufficient control inputs and guarantee the stability of the control approach. To ascertain the parameters of the proposed controller and avoid trial and error, the multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed to augment the performance of proposed controller. The chaotic system of a Duffing-Holmes oscillator andan industrial robotic manipulator are the case studies to evaluate the performance of the proposed control approach. The obtained results of this study regarding both systems are compared with the outcomes of two notable studies in the literature. The results and analysis prove the efficiency of the proposed controller with regard to MIMO uncertain systems having challenging external disturbances in terms of stability, minimum tracking error and optimal control inputs. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.