Also rather wish it didn't rely on wifi/android, but that's mostly because I don't use anything android based, and don't run any wifi on the home network anymore.
All in all though, it's still a pretty nice looking little az-el rotator. With different control software, it might also be a useful little addition to give your static security camera a bit of extra capability without breaking the bank.
"Unfortunately" the entire design is based around ESP8266 to make it cheap and easy for people to modify so wifi is the current option but if there's interest for other alternatives, anything is possible.
Since the rotator uses simple HTTP GET queries for the azimuth and elevation, it should be possible to make it compatible with other ethernet enabled positioning software.
My issue with wifi is really just a matter of too-many-networks and interference making it a bad solution for me.
But I understand the appeal of the ESP8266 (and the rest of that family of chips) and don't blame you one bit. IIRC it has a serial port on a couple of pins, so that's another comm option.
In any case, I look forward to seeing your progress. Good luck!