A material handling system has a shuttle car attached by an extension element either directly to a supply car or to a staging car attached to a supply car. An object manipulator moves an object into place for acquisition by the shuttle car which is brought into position by retraction of the extension element. The extension element extends and moves the shuttle car away to draw the object most of the way from the staging car. A second object manipulator opposite to the shuttle engages the object before the object is pulled completely from the supply car. The shuttle car and the second manipulator lower the object. Objects may also be retrieved and placed on the supply car. In some embodiments, a track on the staging and supply cars may allow a manipulator to travel along the cars to acquire objects.