Inspired by Ramayan Character 'Bali' - Team met in IIT Gandhinagar building AI Agent driven stress controller!

What if I told you that your heart knows you’re going to be stressed 8 minutes before your mind even realizes it? It sounds like science fiction, right? But it is pure, hard science. 

While we track our steps and sleep, a silent epidemic is killing our productivity: chronic stress. I am Sahil, and along with my team, I’ve built Dhritam - the world’s first wearable system that reads your heart and brain together to stop stress before it stops you. 

From the holy streets of Mathura to the high-tech labs of IIT Gandhinagar, my journey has been about one thing: measuring what matters. We aren't just building another "smartwatch"; we are building a garment that listens to your soul.

This is the story of how we are using Agentic AI to decode the human nervous system and prove that India’s got the intelligence to lead the global wellness revolution.

Tell us something about yourself and your team?

My biggest inspiration is the character of Bali from the Ramayana. He had a superpower: whoever stood in front of him, he would gain 50% of their energy. I try to do that with knowledge. Whoever I meet, I try to absorb 50% of their wisdom. Hello I am Sahil, a college student from Mathura, the land of Lord Krishna. Currently, I am pursuing my graduation (class of 2028), but my heart has always been in solving real-world problems using tech.

I’m not doing this alone; I have a "Fantastic Four" team. First, there’s Shubham Jain, my co-founder and ML wizard whom I met during a research stint at IIT Gandhinagar. 

Then we have Pavan Kumar Sharma, our design brain who builds everything from our website to the user experience. We also have a brilliant coder who has been hacking since the 9th grade, handling our end-to-end app development. 

As for me? I’m the face of the company, the one who integrates the hardware, builds the AI agents, and talks to curious souls like you!

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Let me give you an example about "Priya." She’s a 25-year-old startup founder, just like many of us. She wears an expensive smartwatch, tracks her steps, and checks her sleep score. But she still feels burnt out. Why? Because 76% of urban professionals in India suffer from chronic stress, and no device tells them the truth about their nervous system. Existing wearables use "light bouncing off the wrist" (PPG), which is often just a guess. They don't tell you what to do before the damage is done. Stress is an invisible epidemic, and we are making it visible.

What's the story behind your motivation to solve this problem?

I come from a defense family; my father is in the paramilitary. Growing up, I saw the "silent cost" of high-performance pressure. People say "I'm stressed" like a badge of honor, but the damage is invisible until it’s too late. While working as a visiting scholar at IIT Gandhinagar in 2025, I found a 2006 research paper stating the heart registers stress 8 minutes before the mind does.

 I looked at the market - Apple Watches, Fitbits -and realized none of them were reading the signals correctly. I strapped electrodes to myself for 30 days, and the data proved the science was right. My motivation isn't a "market opportunity"; it’s about saving the people I love from being silently damaged.

Enlighten us with Solution Overview - The AI Use Case

Our solution, Dhritam, consists of two parts: Kawach and Agna.

• Kawach: An ECG garment you wear under your shirt. It records your heart signals 500 times a second—just like a hospital ECG.
• Agna: A sleek EEG headband that reads your brain’s electrical signals.

Together, they don't just give you a graph. They send you a message in plain English: "Your stress has been building for 22 minutes. Start your personalized audio now." Our Agentic AI learns your specific body patterns over 3 to 7 days to create a personalized "baseline," rather than comparing you to a world average.

Let’s go in technical details - How AI is Actually Utilised

We have five technical layers.

1. Signal Acquisition: We use silver-coated polymeric fibers to get medical-grade ECG data.
2. Synchronization: We align the ECG (heart) and EEG (brain) data into synchronized 30-second windows - this is patented technology!
3. Adaptive Artifact Suppression: AI learns to filter out "noise" (like when you are running or eating) without using hardcoded filters.
4. Personalized Baseline Learning: We use exponentially weighted moving averages to update your individual physiological model continuously.
5. Intervention Optimization: The AI tracks which binaural beats or Indian classical ragas actually lower your stress and recommends them in real-time.

Were there any Challenges & Failures during this project?

Oh, plenty! Initially, the data was a mess. The moment a person moved or walked, the signals got distorted. We spent months training our AI agents to recognize "motion noise" and filter it out so the data remains 85% accurate even during activity. Another challenge is the "7-day hurdle." Our AI needs 7 days of consistent wear to learn you perfectly. To keep users engaged, we had to gamify the experience - building games you control with your brainpower (BCI) instead of your hands!

Let’s understand how you applied AI Readiness Skills in your project?

AI readiness isn't just about coding; it’s about problem-solving. To understand it with the applied AI Readiness framework we applied a Design Thinking approach - identifying the gap in consumer wearables and building a hardware-software bridge to close it. We didn't just "wrap" an existing AI like ChatGPT; we built Agentic AI in-house to handle specific physiological data layers.

How important are Collaboration Skills for you?

Collaboration is the only reason Dhritam exists. I might know hardware, but I needed Pavan for the web and our other teammates for the Android app. We also collaborated with mentors at IIT Gandhinagar and IIM Ahmedabad to refine our vision. Without teamwork, you're just a person with an idea in a locked room.

‘Critical Thinking & Creativity’ - Is your solution the best?

Yes, because it’s the only one that treats the heart and brain as one system. Competitors like Whoop are great for athletes, but they use PPG (light-based) sensors. We use medical-grade ECG at an Indian price point (around ₹15,000). However, we are still perfecting the "wash durability" of the garment - because let’s face it, if you wear it every day, you need to wash it!

How important are ‘Online Learning Skills’?

We are 100% self-taught. No professor handed us a manual on "How to Build an ECG Shirt." We spent nights on PubMed, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate. The foundation of our work is a 2006 paper by Appelhans and Luecken, 2006, Psychological Bulletin. We also refer to the European Society of Cardiology and Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Internet is our greatest library.

How important are ‘Online Reputation Skills’?

Our website, dhritam.com, is already attracting visitors from the US, Germany, and the UAE. While we haven't been "social media stars" yet, we are starting to share our journey on LinkedIn. As a founder, I’m learning that recording the "struggle" is just as important as the final product.

Impact & Future Vision

Right now, we are in the pre-launch phase with 5 units being tested by our core team.

• Phase 1: Launch for 151 beta users this year.
• Phase 2 (2027): Seed round and targeting 1,000 users in Tier-1 cities.
• Phase 3: B2B focus. We want to partner with corporates to manage employee wellness through data, not just "pizza parties."

What advice would you give to fellow innovators?

I’ll quote my mentor here: "Stay foolish, stay hungry." In Gen-Z terms. Don't wait for a degree. Explore, fail, stand up, and talk to creative people. The world only rewards those who actually build.

Let us know if you have any Mentor, Support & Inspiration.

My mentors have been my backbone: Dr. Ram Manohar Misar (my IOT teacher) and Prof. Monica Mandhan from IIM Ahmedabad.

But my biggest inspiration is the character of Bali from the Ramayana. He had a superpower: whoever stood in front of him, he would gain 50% of their energy. I try to do that with knowledge. Whoever I meet, I try to absorb 50% of their wisdom. I also look up to Steve Jobs and Elon Musk for their relentless focus on delivering value.

To Sahil and the Dhritam team: Your vision to make the invisible visible is truly inspiring. May your journey from Mathura to the world be filled with success. Keep proving that India’s Got Intelligence! Good luck!