This paper deals with nonlinear dual mode adaptive control of a redundant manipulator for a pick-andplace scenario with high acceleration (20G). For performance comparisons, a conventional Proportional-Derivative (PD) controller has also been implemented. In this context, the experimental testbed is not equipped with velocity sensors. Therefore, a high-gain observer has been implemented to estimate the articular velocities. Real-time experiments show the performance improvements obtained by the proposed control approach in comparison to the conventional one.