Abstract: Aimed at the inverse kinematics problem of redundant manipulators with joint limits, a protective weighted least-norm method for optimizing joint speed is proposed to solve the problems of excessive joint angular velocity near the limit position caused by classic weighted least-norm method. This method made sure that when the joint was close to the angular limit, the speed of joint angle and joint angular velocity was still controllable. When the joint stopped completely near the angular limit, the push matrix was introduced to ensure the joint would move in a safe range. Simulation experiment was carried out on a 7-DOF redundant manipulator. The result shows that the proposed method is suitable for redundant manipulators inverse kinematics, the joint angle and joint angular velocity is more stable and the speed is controllable during motion process.