Yandex Improves Its Smart Home Platform: Scenarios Now Run Locally on Devices

Previously, all scenarios were executed exclusively in the cloud, which caused delays and made their operation dependent on an internet connection. In the new implementation, scenario logic is stored and executed locally on devices such as Yandex Station Max, Station 2, and Yandex Hub. This significantly speeds up device response times and allows the smart home system to remain operational even when the network is unavailable.

Key outcomes of the update include:

• autonomous execution of Zigbee device commands directly on the hub device;
• the ability to combine local and cloud-based actions within a single scenario;
• improved performance and reliability of the smart home control system.

`The most challenging part of moving to local scenario execution wasn’t transferring the logic from the cloud, but step by step ensuring support for the full variety of possible scenarios at the device level, for example deciding where and how to store a scenario when there are multiple Zigbee-enabled speakers,` said Irina Kharcheva, lead engineer on the project.