No-one likes to be reminded of their limitations, but robots need exactly that in order to be more effective, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) say. [ + ]

Engineers Australia’s national outreach program for schools, EngQuest, has hit an all-new record for student participation, attracting more than 50,000 students in 2013. [ + ]

ABB has won a $15 million oil and gas contract for the Ichthys oil and gas field in the Timor Sea off Western Australia. [ + ]

Chevron Australia is boosting the professional development of its new engineering graduates, signing a Professional Development Program with Engineers Australia. [ + ]

Orica says a relief valve in its ammonia storage plant lifted prematurely as a result of a mechanical malfunction - but this occurred well before the alarm’s trigger point in this section of the plant. [ + ]

Specialist industrial automation and controls distributor Inaco Automation Controls has announced a new distribution alliance with Rittal for Australia. [ + ]

An ammonia gas leak occurred at Orica’s Kooragang Island site in Newcastle on 11 March, with an unconfirmed quantity of ammonia from a 60 m high vent stack. [ + ]

The Queensland Gas Conference and Exhibition committee is calling for abstracts on topics demonstrating innovation, thought leadership and best practice across the supply chain, from production to midstream industry. [ + ]

Hosted by Peter Welander, the NCS NET Concentrator System video details the advantages of using a distributed I/O network to send information between instrumentation devices and control elements in a control room or on a factory floor. [ + ]

Restaurants are increasingly resorting to gimmicks to set them apart from the crowd. A Chinese restaurateur has taken this concept up a notch, opening a restaurant that is staffed almost entirely by robots. [ + ]

Government grants are available to businesses to support the review, implementation, acquisition or innovation of new technology or energy-efficient resources in their business. However, many companies aren’t aware of which government grants they are eligible for. [ + ]

Women earn lower incomes than men across the engineering profession and are less likely to hold top management responsibilities, according to a survey released today by Engineers Australia. [ + ]

Sitting in a dark room watching a moth fly into a light might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but it’s paying dividends for a University of Oxford researcher. [ + ]

National Instruments has released its Embedded Systems Outlook 2013 report, which outlines the company’s conclusions about the direction of the embedded systems market. [ + ]

National Instruments is giving university students across Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to demonstrate their engineering skills on an international platform in the third annual NI Autonomous Robotics Competition. [ + ]