It is undeniable that citizen science contributes to the advancement of various fields of study. There are now software tools that facilitate the development of citizen science apps. However, apps developed with these tools rely on individual human skills to correctly collect useful data. Machine learning (ML)-aided apps provide on-field guidance to citizen scientists on data collection tasks. However, these apps rely on server-side ML support, and therefore need a reliable internet connection. Furthermore, the development of citizen science apps with ML support requires a significant investment of time and money. For some projects, this barrier may preclude the use of citizen science effectively. We present a platform that democratizes citizen science by making it accessible to a much broader audience of both researchers and participants. The SmartCS platform allows one to create citizen science apps with ML support quickly and without coding skills. Apps developed using SmartCS have client-side ML support, making them usable in the field, even when there is no internet connection. The client-side ML helps educate users to better recognize the subjects, thereby enabling high-quality data collection. We present several citizen science apps created using SmartCS, some of which were conceived and created by high school students.

翻译：不可否认，公民科学推动了多个研究领域的进步。目前已有软件工具能够促进公民科学应用的开发。然而，利用这些工具开发的应用依赖于个人技能来正确收集有用数据。支持机器学习（ML）的应用能够为公民科学家在实地数据收集任务中提供指导。但这些应用依赖于服务器端的机器学习支持，因此需要稳定的互联网连接。此外，开发支持机器学习的公民科学应用需要投入大量时间和资金。对于某些项目而言，这一门槛可能阻碍公民科学方法的有效运用。我们提出一个平台，通过使更广泛的研究者和参与者群体能够便捷参与，从而推动公民科学的普及。SmartCS平台允许用户快速创建支持机器学习的公民科学应用，且无需编程技能。基于SmartCS开发的应用具备客户端机器学习支持，使其能够在无网络连接的野外环境中正常使用。客户端机器学习功能可帮助用户更好地识别研究对象，从而实现高质量的数据收集。我们展示了多个使用SmartCS创建的公民科学应用，其中部分应用由高中生构思并开发完成。