Actuating mechanisms of orthotic devices are important aspects of today's robotic field. Controlling a linear actuator attached in an orthotic limb using PID controller with a suitable tuning method is the main discussion of this paper. Tuning methods like, Internal Model Control (IMC), Zeigler‐ Nichols and Tyreus‐Lyben are applied in this work and analyzed the response in time domain specification, by considering the aspects of orthotic devices. Since simulation is the best way to testing a design, here we use control and simulation module of LabVIEW to simulate our process. Simulation results have shown us the improvement of the system performance by the application of different tuning methods and we have found that IMC method is the best for PID controller to control the DC drive in case of an ambulatory gait orthotic.