It’s been coming for quite some time now, and it’s finally here. The world’s first all-robotic surgery was performed on a Canadian man at Montreal General Hospital, who had his prostate successfully removed. The operation was performed by two main robots – McSleepy, which, as the name suggests, provides anesthesia to the patient, while the DaVinci system uses tools and performs movements way too delicate for any human to match.

The 360 degree arms of the DaVinci robot were guided by a team of surgeons viewing the details of the operation thanks to a 3D high-def camera. A constant stream of information on the patient’s vitals was also provided. So the human brains are still guiding things behind the scenes, but all the physical aspects are under the control of the robotic system.

McSleepy has a simpler task of pumping sleep-inducing drugs into a patient’s veins, but that is a vitally important aspect of any operation. The anesthesia bot has actually been in use for over two years, and DaVinci has helped out in many operations in this past, but this was the first time the two were combined, which eliminated the need for a human presence during the operation.

Dr. Aprikian, from the McGill University Health Center, stated his confidence that this will become a standard procedure in the future, and an all-robotic team will be able to improve results and save more lives on the operating table. While that sounds very promising, at least from all these news stories of successful robotic machines being employed in such operations, the trick will be getting the average Joe to feel comfortable enough knowing a robot is slicing his body. Even with a lot of reassurance, you know some people will feel skeptical about the process.

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