But the SOC can talk to the WiFi and the automation chips, right? Maybe it's not implemented that way now but it should be a straightforward matter for the WiFi driver to emit a signal (or write to a log which another process could monitor) that could trigger an automation event. Think of all the things the router knows about which could be useful as events:
WiFi association or activity for specific MAC addresses
DHCP activity
Inbound or outbound HTTP activity to a specific web site
Any sort of network activity (perhaps via firewall rules)
Failed login attempts (or successful ones!)
If it's positioned at the ISP interface, the router is a gateway (probably the most common configuration) to all of the network activity in the house. Think outside the traditional boxes a little and the Almond+ has a lot of advantages over standalone automation hubs.