This paper presents a new methodology for friction compensation that is not based on any friction model. This is done by using finite-terms Fourier series to approximate the friction term. Updating laws for the coefficients of the series are easily derived from a Lyapunov approach to guarantee asymptotic convergence of the tracking error. Computer simulations are then proposed in which friction term is generated by existing models (unknown to the controller) to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach in compensating friction effects without friction model. Extension to the case of unknown inertia is also proposed. Robustness against velocity measurement errors is investigated by simulation showing better robustness than existing model-based schemes.