Abstract This article presents a control algorithm for nonholonomic mobile manipulators with a simple, geometric holonomic constraint imposed on the robot’s arm. A mathematical model in generalized, auxiliary and linearized coordinates is presented, as well as the constrained dynamics of the robotic system. A position-force control law is proposed, both for the fully known robot’s model, as well as for the model with parametric uncertainty in the dynamics. Theoretical considerations are supported by the results of computer simulations.