Provided is a gesture recognition apparatus. The gesture recognition apparatus includes a human detection unit, a gesture region setting region, an arm detection unit and a gesture determination unit. The human detection unit detects a face region of a user from an input image. The gesture region setting unit sets a gesture region, in which a gesture of the user's arm occurs, with respect to the detected face region. The arm detection unit detects an arm region of the user in the gesture region. The gesture determination unit analyzes a position, moving directionality and shape information of the arm region in the gesture region to determine a target gesture of the user. Such a gesture recognition apparatus may be used as a useful means for a human-robot interaction in a long distance where a robot has difficulty in recognizing a user's voice.