In this paper, a motion control algorithm is developed using a fuzzy control and the optimization of performance function, which makes a robot arm avoid an unexpected obstacle when the end-effector of the robot arm is moving to the goal position. During talc motion, if there exists no obstacle, the end-effector of the robot arm moves along the predefined path. But if these exists an obstacle and close to talc robot arm, the fuzzy motion controller is activated to adjust the path of the end-effector of the robot arm. Then, the robot arm takes the optimal posture far collision avoidance with the obstacle. To show the feasibility of the developed algorithm, numerical simulations are carried out with changing both the positions and sites of obstacles. It was concluded that the proposed algorithm gives a good performance for obstacle avoidance.