Robot traversal of deformable (granular) landscape

[mtduver]

I am attempting to replicate sand so that a robot can traverse it, and deform it. On a similar post, I saw someone attempting to do this with particles. The forum said that at the time, the particle physics were not there yet and not precise enough to be able to accurately accomplish a task like that. Are particles the only method this can be done, is the tech there to handle this sort of task, are there alternatives? I’ve looked at deformable height fields, however, I want the deformed landscape to affect the motion of the robot and provide resistance like real sand would. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.