MONTREAL — Doctors at the Montreal General Hospital are claiming a world first after operating on a prostate cancer patient using two robots at once — a mechanical arm to perform the surgery and an automated machine to anesthetize the man.

What's more, the Montreal General has invented the anesthesia robot, which it has patented and nicknamed McSleepy. Although the Da Vinci surgical robot has been around for years, doctors say this is the first time the two robots have been used together.

The operation — which was overseen by a surgeon and an anesthesiologist — took place last Wednesday, and has been declared a success.

"The advantage to using these two robots together is that you can provide surgery and anesthesia with a higher degree of precision," said anesthesiologist Thomas Hemmerling, who directed McSleepy during the operation.

"Using these robots together is an obvious fit. The result is a much better outcome for patients."

With both the Da Vinci and McSleepy, the doctors must still be present. The Da Vinci, however, can make surgical cuts and stitches with far greater accuracy than the human hand. The surgeon sits at a console and manipulates controls while the mechanical arm operates on the patient.

McSleepy, meanwhile, can deliver "a much more stable anesthesia than you could do yourself," Hemmerling explained.

Gilles Lefort, the 68-year-old man who had his prostate removed, said Tuesday that the all-robotic experience was "great."

"I remember waking up in the operating room with no nausea and my mind was sharp," Lefort recalled. "I think it's a good technology."

Lefort said he wasn't surprised when urologic surgeon Armen Aprikian approached him with the idea of using Da Vinci and McSleepy at the same time.

"I know how technology has grown, and so I expected that something like this would happen one day," he added. "I know that surgeons have already operated on patients using robots. So, I was confident that this would succeed."

Aprikian said the McGill University Health Centre plans to test all-robotic surgery and anesthesia on more patients and for different types of operations.

"This should allow for faster, safer and more precise surgery for our patients," he said.