This modeling and simulation environment allows the system engineer to design and simulate automated systems handling non-rigid materials taking into account their physical properties, The system's three main components include one which geometrically models both the workspace and the handling machinery, one which physically models and simulates the behavior of flat elastic and visco-plastics bulk types of non-rigid materials, and a robot off-line programming system. The second module, SoftLand, is based on the particle-based model and constitutes the innovative component.