'Surgie' the humanoid robot makes history with world-first live animal surgeries

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Humanoid robots have performed two surgeries in pigs for the first time, a new development researchers say may be a potential gamechanger for hospitals in the future.

The procedures and results were published in the journal Nature July 8 and involved engineers and surgeons from the University of California San Diego.

MORE: Labor vs. social robots? Humanoids focusing on accessibility were featured at Silicon Valley summit

One surgery was led by a humanoid robot and assisted by a surgeon, while the second surgery was completed by two humanoid robots, according to the university. The robots removed gallbladders in pigs, a significant step before the experiments progress to human trials.

"As a proof of concept, it absolutely worked," Dr. Ryan Broderick, interim director of the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego, told ABC News.

The humanoid robots have a head and arms and are smaller than many of the surgical robots being used in hospitals today that require a lot of space. Researchers and doctors have even given the humanoid robots a nickname -- "Surgie."

MORE: New Silicon Valley restaurant using robots to make your hamburgers: Here's a look

"The space constraints didn't exist like in traditional robotic surgery," Broderick said. "It was a human-type bedside assistant, so it just fit into the space that we're traditionally used to being in for laparoscopic surgery."

Doctors and researchers say they hope "Surgie" can be used outside of a hospital operating room in the future.

"You can imagine this device being deployed on a ship, in a village somewhere, in a smaller operating environment that's not in major cities," said Dr. Shanglei Liu, a colorectal surgeon at UC San Diego. "And it opens up, I think, a lot of doors for access."

VIDEO: Futuristic Fight Club: VR-controlled boxing humanoid robots battle in San Francisco

The doctors and researchers also said they believe "Surgie" could potentially help ease hospital staffing shortages and assist in more surgeries down the road.

"I believe we've shown that it is possible to use humanoid robots in an operating room to do real procedures that can eventually save lives," said Michael Yip, a UC San Diego professor.