This research proposed novel development of a 2-DOF H infinity loop shaping structured controller based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) that considers the closed-loop dynamic response, robustness, stability, and minimal control input in design criteria to control position of 3-DOF pneumatic surgical robot. Unlike other conventional H infinity controllers, the proposed controller offers robustness, high performance, but cost-effective simple structure, which has recently received attention from several researchers and preferred in industrial applications. The proposed technique is simulated and experimented on a nonlinear system of a pneumatic 3-DOF surgical robot for a Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS). Mechanical design, dynamics modeling, and system identification of the surgical robot are conducted. The simulation results verify that the proposed controller can gain a better H infinity sub-optimal solution than the conventional 2-DOF H infinity loop shaping controller. Also, the experiments confirm that the proposed controller is capable to tolerate the perturbed conditions and can be alternative to the conventional controllers in pneumatic controlled system. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.