Bristol Elumotion Robot Torso Version 2 (BERT2) is a humanoid robot currently in development at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL). In this paper we present the current state of development and demonstrate how the integration of several advanced subsystems (of commercial and non-commercial nature) within a heterogeneous computing infrastructure enables us to construct a unique platform ideally suited to investigate complex human-robot interaction (HRI). We particularly focus on two important domains of non-verbal communication, namely gaze and pointing gestures in a real-world 3D setting and outline our thinking in terms of safety, ambiguities and further experimental work.