Appium is a new open source automation tool for testing native or hybrid applications on iOS and Android. Written in JavaScript and powered by Node.js, Appium is a Selenium WebDriver-compatible server. Appium can test apps in emulators and on real devices. There is also early support for testing with Tapster, a robot-controlled stylus on real devices. (The robot's powered by Node, too!)

Appium has two key tenants:
* You don't have to recompile your app or modify it in any way just to test automate it.
* You can write your tests in any language.

In this talk, I'll explain Appium's Node.js design, and show how to code simple tests to automate an app running in iOS and Android simulators and on real devices. There will be a few robot demos, too. Finally, I'll explain why I think robots like Tapster will be an important part of mobile test automation in the future.