Abstract: There is poor robustness of the PID control strategy for hydropower units in islanding mode.Thus an intelligent robust controller （IRC） based on state dynamic measurement,feedback linearization,and improved slime mold algorithm（ISMA） is designed for a nonlinear hydraulic turbine regulating system （HTRS） to achieve real-time optimal control of all operating conditions of hydropower stations.First,a nonlinear and complex HTRS numerical simulation model is constructed,one that fully considers the nonlinearity of the hydraulic turbine,the speed limiting link of the servo system,and the characteristics of a high-order generator.Integration of the system tracking deviation is introduced,and a high-order state space equation model of the HTRS considering the system tracking deviation in islanding mode is derived.Then,HTRS robust control is achieved by combining high-order state space equations and H_∞control.Intelligent optimization of H_∞controller parameters is performed based on ISMA.Finally,a nonlinear and complex HTRS simulation platform is constructed based on real data from a hydropower station.This is to verify the sensitivity of the proposed control strategy to system parameters and operating conditions,as well as its strong robustness to frequency disturbance.