The self-propelled Gallus robot drives slowly among oblivious young chickens, its multiple sensors transmitting a constant stream of data about the birds and the environment inside the farm shed. This is not a scene from a science-fiction film but from a video produced by Enterprise Ireland in September 2020 when Iamus Technologies, the maker of the Gallus prototype, won the best start-up award at the annual Innovation Arena competition organised by the state agency and the National Ploughing Association. Now a liquidator has been appointed to Iamus, in an environment that is proving increasingly challenging to early-stage companies attempting to…