You certainly don't need a cloud defaulted device in order to do what you describe. There are plenty of assistants, Google and Alexa being two, that can talk to things on your local network with a REST API. That controller also has a gig of memory, plenty enough to run a little API.
What manufacturers like about cloud enabled devices is that they can automatically upgrade the firmware and they can get semi-accurate counts for usage.
What manufacturers like about cloud enabled devices is that they can automatically upgrade the firmware and they can get semi-accurate counts for usage.