Automatic guided vehicle roll-handling system

A low-profile, automatically guided vehicle (12) is provided with a vertically raisable cradle (24) which can carry a roll (10) either in a bilge position (10b) or an upright position (10u). The vehicle is used in a roll-handling system which enables the vehicle to pass beneath the spaced, parallel arms of a storage rack (16) that can be holding a roll either in the upright or bilge position. The vehicle can pass beneath a set of rolls on the storage racks so that passage of the vehicle either for depositing a paper roll or lifting a paper roll from the storage rack can be in a single, common direction. A transfer table is provided which has articulated arms (70) that can be vertically raised. The arms can be moved lengthwise to the direction of the lengthwise axis of the roll in a bilge position, the arms can be raised vertically, or the arms can be carried moved to the lengthwise axis of the roll on the transfer table. A method is disclosed for handling rolls in an advantageous first-in, first-out method wherein a roll at one end of a row of rolls can be accessed by passing a vehicle beneath all other rolls in that row.