Disclosed are a communication robot and a method for operating the same capable of smoothly processing speech recognition by executing an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm and/or a machine learning algorithm in 5G environment connected for Internet of things. A method for operating a communication robot according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include collecting speech uttered by two or more utterers approaching within a predetermined distance from the communication robot, collecting photographed images of the two or more utterers, determining whether a case where utterers of a wake-up word and a continuous word included in the uttered speech are the same is a first case, or whether a case where the utterers of the wake-up and the continuous word included in the uttered speech are different is a second case, and determining a voice reception enhancement direction according to the first case or the second case.