Purpose- Interaction plays a significant role in robotics and it is considered in all levels of hardware and software control design. Several models have been introduced and developed for controlling robotic interaction. This study aims to address and analyze the state of the art on robotic interaction control by which reveals that both practical and theoretical issues have to be faced when designing a controller. Design/methodology/approach - In this review a critical analysis of the control algorithms developed for robotic interaction tasks is presented. A hierarchical classification of distributed control levels from general aspects to specific control algorithms is also illustrated. Hence, two main control paradigms are discussed toget...