Arduino Beginner Seeking Advice on DIY Project

Hey everyone, I’ve been lurking on these forums for ages, but this is one of my rare posts here to date. Lately, I’ve really gotten into DIY BDSM projects. I have a specific idea brewing for my next build that requires some electronics work—a first for me in that area. Since you folks are the go-to experts, I thought it best to ask right here.

The project itself is pretty straightforward: I want to power up a pillory or stocks for self-bondage using an electromagnet and an Arduino board. From a non-kinky standpoint, I’ve wanted to dive into Arduino projects for a while now, and this seems like the perfect motivation to finally buy a board. I already have some C++ experience (which is close enough to what these boards use), so coding shouldn’t be too tough. However, I do have plenty of hardware questions.

Here’s how I plan it: Building the stocks themselves will be easy, so I won’t get bogged down in those details. What matters most is that they latch using an electromagnet on one side, powered by a wall outlet. On the back, I want an LCD screen and buttons to set the timer before closing them. The Arduino will handle this info and cut power to the magnet at the right moment. Ideally, I’d also like something akin to the Pen15 board so I can have a vibrator start and stop either randomly or in a pattern during use. Plus, if there’s a power interruption—like a surge, outage, or that “Oh crap, pull the plug!” emergency—the magnet will shut off because it loses power.

Of course, proper testing and safety checks are on my list before I put them to use.

So, as an Arduino beginner, where should I start? Which boards should I get? How do I wire the outlet power through the Arduino to the magnet? Is this build even feasible? Do I really need an Arduino for it?

Looking forward to your thoughts!