Abstract: A disturbance Kalman filter external force estimation method based on time delay estimation is proposed to address the problems of model error and system disturbance in the end force estimation of the manipulator. In the case of no extra force sensor, the time delay estimation method is used to design an estimator that does not require an accurate dynamic model through the measurement of the drive motor current. The external force is then taken as the state variable to observe the uncertainty and disturbance of the system. A disturbance Kalman filter is designed considering the dynamics of the manipulator and the disturbance dynamics to estimate the external force on the end of the manipulator. The effectiveness of this method is verified by Matlab simulation software. Results show that the proposed estimation method has good robustness for the system with measurement noise, model error, and uncertainty disturbance.